Where the Dad Becomes the Son
by Mrs. Kitsune
Summary: When Naruto and Madara are battling, Naruto falls victim to a strange combination of jutsu, that sends him spiraling back in time to where the Sandaime is still Hokage... but before the Yondaime. WAY before the Yondaime. SpiritualSaber86 adoption. Under MAJOR construction. To be determined for how long.
1. Chapter 1

**I've taken up the challenge by SpiritualSaber86, and the first four chapters are pretty much a big copy and paste, so don't give me and grief about how this is almost exactly like it. **

**For the love of god, do you think I own Naruto? Nobody owns the Mona Lisa, she's Leonardo's. What I'm getting at, is that the art will always be owned by the artist, it can change hands by use of money, but the artist has supreme rule. ****岸本斉史 ****owns Naruto.** **Not me. This is for the rest of the chapters, as well.**

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><p>Now... Where to begin? My name is Naruto Namikaze, formerly known as Naruto Uzumaki. You may know me by my many nicknames or call signs. Ones like Kitsune Akuma, my ANBU name, the Number-One-Unpredictable-Knucklehead-Ninja, the Man Who Defeated Pain, and so on.<p>

I didn't really do anything to really deserve these many and not always flattering nicknames, well, yes I did, but that story is for another time. I essentially made the best/worst mistake/choice in the history of forever, and mixed two jutsu that shouldn't have been mixed. Oh man, I dug myself a deep hole with this one- you can bet your right hand that many people would see this as a humongous screw up of epic proportions. As to how I messed up/saved the world... Well, you can see for yourself.

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><p>Simultaneous shouts of different attacks rang through the lasting silence of the battlefield. Not a soul was around to witness the glory of this particular showdown, however.<p>

"Rasen-Shuriken!"

"Amaterasu!"

Wind and fire met in an epic flash of color and sound, deafening in the quiet. Thousands of colors all across the rainbow showered the sky and reflected on the two warriors upon the battlefield. Brilliant streaks of ruby red, orange, gold, emerald green, sapphire blue, indigo, and deep shades of violet colored the haggard faces, bringing life to the endless death on the once peaceful field.

"Fox-brat! You will never defeat me! I am the ultimate God! Bow before the Eternal Flame's power!" Madara roared at the Namikaze. "Just give up! Give me the fox, and maybe I'll spare your life!" He started laughing crazily.

"I will never bow to someone like you, and I'll never allow you to get your hands on the fox! You're done for Madara. All of your allies are dead, you're as good as dead, there's nothing to take anymore!" Naruto yelled back.

"I will have the fox's power! Nothing will stop me!" Naruto looked into his eyes, a very dangerous thing to do, considering the circumstances with an Uchiha, a master of illusion. All traces of sanity were gone from the bloody red eyes, nothing in Madara's eyes signified any form of logic.

The two S-class jutsu were still fighting, still raging furiously in their own personal battle. Then, ever so slowly, the Rasen-shuriken started to gain ground. The completed legacy of the Yondaime Hokage was slowly but surely pulling ahead of the Eternal Flames. Madara poured more chakra into the flames, but the wind jutsu had gotten stronger on its own, with no help from Naruto. The spiraling mass of cutting wind chakra was charging through the flames as if they were nothing but an annoyance. Resembling it's caster in all but shape, it forged ahead as if with utmost determination. As if it had a mind of its own.

His mind was officially blown. Fire wasn't gaining the elemental advantage that had governed the world since the very dawn of time. That oversized wind ball shouldn't be beating it; it should have simply fueled its flame! But that wasn't happening; the Rasen-Shuriken was literally _eating_ the flames of the great fire.

"_How, in all the Seven Circles of Hell_ are you doing this? My Amaterasu should have _destroyed_ that glorified wind ball!_ Not_ the other way around!" He yelled out, frustrated.

"Madara, you fool! The Rasen-Shuriken attacks on a molecular level, and leeches all of the air around it to use as fuel! Your black flames have no power source!" Naruto explained quickly. He really didn't have time for this. Seriously, _what_ was with people and long monologues?

"Brat! You think you're so smart, don't you? Well I'd like to see your glorified ball of wind defeat this! Fire style: Amaterasu Flamethrower!" A raging torrent of black fire shot out of Madara's mouth. Naruto charged a rasengan about the size of a human, but didn't have time to do anything with it before the flames hit. As if repelled by a supernatural force, the fire was forced back. Madara growled darkly, and pushed more of his chakra into the fire.

As soon as the fire and wind ball met, a giant explosion of black flame and white wind blew Madara and Naruto back several hundred feet, leaving deep trenches from where their bodies hit the ground. Madara got up almost immediately, while Naruto was dazed.

"Fuck you, brat! You've been a thorn in my side for far too long! I'll find another way to complete my goals, but for now I can see the end of the Namikaze forever! HAHAHAHA! Say goodbye Fox-Brat! Kamui!" Madara chucked the attack at Naruto, who only just then regained his senses.

"Fuck." Naruto muttered to himself. '_He's going to send me to another dimension to die, I can't allow him to take over this world, and I'm the only one who has the power and confidence to stand in his way, not to mention the only one who is _alive_. I have to use Hiraishin, even though I don't have full confidence in the efficiency of the jutsu, yet. Not to mention I haven't finished my own version yet.'  
><em>

At that moment, as Madara's Kamui was pulling him into itself, Naruto quickly threw a tri-pronged kunai into the distance, but just as he was initiating the jutsu, Kamui closed in around him, and with a yellow flash, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze disappeared into the blackness.

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><p><strong>So what do you think of this story so far? I value your opinion, so please review.<strong>

**Mrs. Kitsune out!**

**Edited: 1~4~13  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello. I've been waiting for you. LOL, JK, I had no idea you were coming, chapter's right here, never fear. HA! I'm a poet!**

**OH! Thank you for the wonderful reviews for last chapter, and for all of you who thought that they could get away with not reviewing-**

**Shame. Shame on you. **

**Oh well! Last chapter was the prologue, so here is happy little chapter one!**

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><p>XxoxX<p>

In a certain large forest next to a certain large village with three certain large stone faces looking over said certain large village; a blonde man soared out of a distortion in the sky. He landed within the forest, leaving a crater the size of a house. **(A/N: How on Earth do they survive that? Anybody? No?) **

The blonde man in question was unconscious, but regained awareness about half an hour later. He slowly sat up, and opened his eyes. He looked around, and saw that he wasn't just in some random Iwa forest, but the very same forest that once surrounded Konoha. Before it was destroyed.

He mimicked his thoughts out loud.

"Wha- what the hell is going on? This was _not_ here before! Well it was, but it's supposed to be _gone _now!" he thought for a minute. "If these are the same woods around Konoha, that means the village is near here. Which means familiar faces to tell me what the hell is going on."

'_Actually, if these are the woods around Konoha, that means I've been asleep for much longer than I originally thought… Just what is going on? How much time has gone by?'_ He kept these thoughts to himself, for admitting them out loud would probably make him freak out.

So Naruto headed off to the direction of where the village should be, however, he noticed something weird. The trees were shorter and were younger, but were in exactly the same spots as he remembered them to be. That shouldn't be… He filed this bit of information away for later. As he neared the village's crater, he noticed that one, there was indeed a village. Two, the great gates, the ones that had been created by Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, _were still there._

As he reached the gates he noted that the paint job was new and had very few dents. The ones that were there were there ever since the first war. The ones that came with the Second and Third Great Shinobi wars weren't there, so it wasn't to strange.

And the very fact that they were here astounded him. His thoughts drew back to trees he had passed on the way to the village, they were also newer. His brain was kicked into overdrive to figure out what those several facts meant, as he looked into the village, he noticed the third piece of the puzzle.

Shinobi. Shinobi were everywhere, walking around in the streets, jumping across the rooftops, and some standing together conversing on the latest gossip that was spreading over the village. That was impossible, all available ninja except for the bare minimum to protect the village, was on the front lines, yet here were hundred, if not thousands of shinobi acting like there wasn't a war going on. It then hit him like a chidori from Sasuke.

Both he and Madara had used space time jutsu. The jutsu had mixed, and he was not in another space like he had originally thought. He was in another time, before the Second Great War.

After convincing the guards at the gate that he wasn't a threat to the security of the village, he made his way to the Hokage tower. As he walked, he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks. The Hokage Monument only had three faces, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. So the second war hadn't started yet.

He walked up to the secretary, and told her that he was returning from a long term S-class mission that he needed to speak with the Hokage about.

Thirty minutes later, Naruto was informed that the Hokage would now see him. As he walked in he saw something he had only seen in pictures, a young Hiruzen Sarutobi. His eyes started to mist up as he saw a younger version of his unofficial grandfather; however his knowledge of being back in time kept him from running to the man and giving him a bone-crushing hug,

Unbeknownst to Naruto, the Sandaime had carefully watched him enter and saw the myriad of emotions playing on the face of this stranger. As he saw his eyes come back in to focus, he cleared his throat to get the stranger's attention, as soon as he saw that the guy was listening he spoke.

"Greetings, young one. How may I help you today?"

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><p>XxoxX<p>

Naruto suddenly heard the sound of someone clearing their throat, and looked to see the Third Hokage looking at him, studying him; then the now only middle-aged leader speak.

"Greetings, young one. How may I help you today?"

"Hello Lord Hokage, before I begin, may I ask what date it is?"

"Certainly. Its January 21st, 120 ARS, (After Rikudo Sennin)"

"What? 120 ARS? That's impossible! That means that I did go back in time! That means that the Second Great Shinobi War hasn't even happened yet! Oh man, forty years into the past, but that would explain all of the weird shit that happened…" Naruto trailed off, a whirlwind of thoughts whizzing around his head like bees.

"What do you mean you got transported back in time, who are you? And while you're at it, what about the Second Great Shinobi War?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

Naruto looked up at the Sarutobi and realized that he had spoken his realization aloud, that he had unknowingly traveled into the past, and that he would have to explain everything about himself if he didn't want to be thrown in the loony bin. So he did the only logical thing he could think of. He began to explain who he was, why he was fighting Madara, who was sealed inside him, how he was sealed inside him, and his theory on how he had ended up here.

"Well now, that is quite a story, Mr. Uzumaki. However, I have one question. If what you say is true, then why were you so surprised about how you arrived here?" The not-so-Old-Man asked, a single eyebrow rose.

"That's the thing; I didn't realize that the Hiraishin would affect Madara's Kamui in such a way. I knew subconsciously that they were both space-time ninjutsu, but I just reacted. I did master the jutsu, in case that's on your mind, and I was working on my own version of it, to stay out of my father's shadow." He explained.

Sarutobi nodded. "It was still foolish."

"Yeah, I know, but that's my specialty, making the most out of anything that I have on hand. I Next time a giant ball of inter-dimensional horror is flying at me from the man who wants to essentially kill the entire world by brainwashing them by the moon, and the only thing stopping him is me and my tenant, I'll think on your advice."

The Old Man had the decency to look miffed. "Well, let's talk about what you'll do while you're here; I assume that you still want to be a shinobi?"

"Yes, with no idea how to get back home, I can't do anything else. I might as well get used to the fact that I'm stuck here. Who knows, I might just make a difference with the future's events, I have a vague knowledge of how the Second and Third Ninja Wars will go, and I can keep select people that we'll need alive from dying… But I have to ask, how are Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru?" Naruto asked, curious.

"They are in good health, however, Jiraiya and Tsunade bicker like mortal enemies, and Orochimaru is starting to distance himself from us, the death of his parents six months ago hurt him deeply." The Hokage looked grim.

"Well I'd get a handle on him if I were you." Naruto said unexpectedly. "He will be a problem in the future, so I suggest more one on one training. However, not in the ninja arts, train him to let go. You have to teach him that death is a natural part of life, if you continue to ignore his darkness, and steadily train him to get stronger, all you're going to do is create an unstable time-bomb that might be this village's downfall if you don't nip this growing darkness in the bud." Naruto said, entering his sage-like mode of seriousness.

"You might be right. I will think on your advice, in the mean time, however, we need to talk about your living arrangements. I have only one apartment that is vacant that I can think of, it's a newly built complex that we've built that gives orphans a place to stay when their residence at the orphanage has come to an end when they get to old. It's right outside the Red-Light District I'm afraid, that was the only available construction space we were able to acquire so cheaply.

"Wait; please don't say it's the complex by the old archive building."

"Why, yes, as a matter of fact, it's located by the Central Archive, why do you ask?"

"Huh, I've lived in that building all my life, I guess I'm cursed to live in that building forever, please say it's not room #311." He put his hands together as if he was praying.

"No, an orphan already resides in that apartment; you will live in #312. It has had no previous owner and will be perfect until you find yourself in a position to find other living arrangements."

"Very well, can't say much, I guess. I'm not picky in where I lay my head down to sleep. A side effect of my childhood I suppose, well, I guess I'll head out and speak with you tomorrow. Still kind of creepy, though." Naruto stood up to leave, as he did, the Third handed him a set of keys and a slip of paper, as he walked out of the office he glanced at the paper.

"Heh, Old Man's always thinking." He chuckled.

As Naruto walked away the slip of paper fell out of his pocket revealing its contents for a second before the paper combusted instantaneously.

**Naruto,**

**While you are here, you'll be known as an Uzu assassin who didn't kill an innocent woman. She's pregnant, completely innocent, and was going to be killed for petty reasons. That's your story- stick to it. You'll be grilled for any holes when the council calls you up to try and manipulate you, so be careful.  
><strong>

**The Third Hokage,**

**Hiruzen Sarutobi**

Naruto trotted along the familiar road to the NEW START Apartment building. He was interested to see it not dilapidated and crumbling, as he turned the corner he saw in bold letters:

_**NEW START APARTMENTS**_

_**Find your New Start at NEW START**_

"Wow, it's impressive how different it is." Naruto stated as he looked upon the bright, brand new apartment complex that looked almost nothing like the hovel that he had lived in all his life. The slanted roof, while in his time was as crooked as the Civilian Council, was a sleek mahogany color and the dirty grimy walls in his time were now a creamy eggshell white.

Naruto's mouth hit the ground with a loud _THUD_ as he stepped into the beauty that was a newer version of his apartment. Brand new sectional couch with modest thirty-one inch television, cedar coffee and end tables. The Kitchen was stocked with high end appliances of the day, a gas range with stove top broiler, bread and convection oven, a double door fridge with bottom freezer, completely stocked of course, oak cabinets with granite counter tops and back-splash with island and microwave.

The bedroom was also nice with; queen sized bed, cedar nightstands and faux ivory lamp, 27" television, and oak desk. The Bathroom had a flushmaster deluxe, most of which were still the best toilets in his time, a Jetstream 1000, the first Jacuzzi tub ever to exist, and a fully stocked med cabinet.

"This is a far cry to how they will look a few years from now…" Naruto said as he looked around his new place of living.

Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door, as he opened it; he was surprised to see a woman about twenty years old walk in. She had brown hair, doe-eyes, big lips, and… let's just say she was Jiraiya's wet dream. Not his type, he liked… uh… he wasn't gay.

"Hello, my name is Misaki Kaito, and I am the supervisor of New Start Apartments, what is your name?"

"It's nice to meet you Misaki-san, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I'm a refugee from Whirlpool Country. The Hokage has allowed me this apartment until I can purchase my own."

"Well then, enjoy your stay, if you need anything, than I'm down on the first floor, room #122." She smiled, pearly white teeth, and left.

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><p>XxoxX<p>

_In Apartment #311_

It was another day for Minato Ichiroku, he had studied up on village history and he even purchase a second-hand book of fuinjutsu (apparently wrote by a famous ninja named The Gallant Jiraiya, the only Jiraiya he knew of was this weird grown up that always peeked in on the women's bathhouse, the perv.) He also bought a second hand set of training kunai and shuriken, he couldn't wait to start the academy in six months. He had dreamed of becoming a ninja all his life, so he could grow up and have a family.

Minato had no luck when it came getting adopted, hence his situation. When asked why, the answer was always the same; "That hair is unnatural." He didn't know what was so unnatural about it, it was his hair, he didn't dye it and he didn't try anything with it, it was just that way. As he was contemplating that a knock came at the door.

He opened the door, and saw Misaki.

"Hello Minato, how are you today?"Misaki greeted.

"Just fine, Misaki-san, how are you?" Said Minato.

"Busy, a new tenant just moved in and I have to get his papers signed and filed away." groaned Misaki.

"A new tenant? But I thought that you said that a new tenant wouldn't come for another year." Minato declared, raising his eyebrows.

"Well this one is a special case, you see, this guy is a refugee from the Whirlpool country, supposedly, his family banished him or something." Said Misaki, mysteriously.

"Did he do something bad?" he asked, curious.

"I don't think so, the Hokage told me that he messed up a big ninja mission and he was banished, but, do you want to know the weird thing?" she leaned closer, her eyebrows set.

"What? What's weird? Tell me, tell me!" He shouted excitedly.

"Okay, okay, don't have a cow, the weird thing is his hair is the exact same as yours, the same color the same style, even your weird sideburns."

"Really, do you think we're related? And my hair isn't weird!" He pouted.

"Dunno, could be, anything is possible. You should go meet him, but not tonight, he needs to settle in and you need to take a bath, have you been out training all day?" she said, taking a sniff of his hair, and then making a face.

"Yes, but that's only because I want to be where clan children are when they start school." He said to her.

"What about civilian children, they're not going to be at that level, why in such a hurry?" Misaki asked worriedly.

"The sooner I become a ninja, the sooner I can have and protect a family."

"Minato, you're six, you shouldn't be worrying about growing up right now! You should be out playing and enjoying your childhood, you only have your innocence for so long until it's gone, doubly if you're a ninja." She said, her brow furrowing.

"I don't want a childhood, I want a family! Do you have any idea what it's like to go around the village seeing all the happy families around, and knowing that you don't have one, coming home to a empty apartment and wishing that someone, _anyone _would come and make you feel loved?"

"You're right, Minato, I come from a family, I come from a loving home, I can't tell you that I know what you feel, however, I know that you are strong for carrying this with you for so long. I know that someday you will get that family, you want, and I hope that when that day comes; you'll still consider me family."

Misaki walked out of the room, leaving a sad and lonely Minato Ichiroku.

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><p>XxoxX<p>

As Naruto was lying in bed, his thoughts suddenly turned to his father. Where he was now? Was he in a house with his Obaa-san and Ojii-san? Or was he with another member of the Namikaze Clan? As he sank into a deep sleep at that moment he would never guess that his father was twenty feet to his right wishing for the family he had never had.

XxoxX

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><p><strong>Edited: 12~4~12<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Roses are red,**

**Violets are blue,**

**I don't own Naruto,**

**And neither do you!**

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><p><em>BEEP<em>

_BEEP_

_BEEP_

_BE—__**CRASH**_

Metal shrapnel flew as a fist slammed into the offending new alarm clock. Naruto sleepily opened his eyes, and yawned. He stretched, curling like a cat as he remembered where he was.

He stripped down and walked into the bathroom to shower. He lost himself in the luxury of the scorching water cascading down his back. There weren't very many opportunities to shower during wartime, so he took a long one, not a care in the world.

He shut it off after a few more minutes, and got out. He wiped off some of the mist from the mirror, and stared at his reflection.

Blue eyes, fine spun gold hair that defied all laws of gravity, now a bit darker when laden with water, tanned skin, whisker-like birthmarks, and happy-go-lucky grin permanently etched to his face that looked so much like his father's. He sighed, then wrapped a towel around his waist, and stepped out of the bathroom, turning out the light.

He got out the spare clothes from his bag. A black muscle shirt, black anbu-style pants, dark orange shinobi sandals, **(XD)** and his sage coat. The sandals were a gift from Jiraiya-sensei; he just didn't wear them because he liked his old ones. As he finished dressing himself, he heard a knock on the door.

When he opened the door he was greeted with the sight of a Baboon masked ANBU, the ANBU proceeded to hand him a scroll. Without a word the ANBU disappeared with a swirl of leaves. As Naruto was opening the letter, Misaki walked up to him.

"Hello, Uzumaki-san, how are you doing today?" Misaki asked.

"Good Kaito-san, I'm heading to the Hokage Tower, to see what the Old Man wants." Naruto greeted

Misaki looked abashed, "Uzumaki-san, I ask you to not disrespect the Hokage in my presence, besides, he isn't that old, merely in his mid-thirties." Misaki said heatedly.

"Sorry, Misaki-san, I forget that many don't realize my calling people by nicknames, you see, when there is someone I respect or admire, or if I see them as family, I give them a nickname, for example, the Hokage: Old Man."Naruto explained, chuckling.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap, it's just that… I owe the Hokage a lot, and I get a little heated when someone bad-mouths him."

"Really? I know what you mean; he's given me a new chance at life, after I botched that assassination. I really admire him, hence the nickname. Ya know, the chance to redeem myself is something that I ever thought I would ever get, ever since the Uzumaki family took me in. For a while there, I thought I had a family but they just wanted another tool in their arsenal."

"You're an orphan?"

"Yep, I don't know where I come from originally, but I remember the Uzumaki family finding and adopting me. They found me in a harbor town on the outskirts of lightning country, or so I'm told."

"Wow, what a coincidence that you, an orphan would come to stay in an orphanage apartment building… You know, there is this orphan in the room to your right that looks just like you. I'd really like for you to meet him when you get back." She added.

"Looks just like me, what do you mean?"

"He has your hair color and style, and he also has your blue eyes. If you didn't have those funny marks on your cheeks, I'd say you were twins."She laughed quietly.

"Well, let me see what the old man wants and when I come back, we'll see this so called Mini-Me."

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><p>As Minato dressed, his mind went to his talk with Misaki, and his harsh words to her. He hadn't meant to snap at her, he just wanted a family <em>really<em> badly.

He stepped out of the front door, and as he finished locking the door, he bumped into Misaki.

"Hey, Misaki-san, how are you?" Minato greeted.

"Fine, Minato, just finished my rounds, what's on your agenda, more training?" Said Misaki.

"Yeah, I really want to try tree climbing, to get my chakra control up." Minato stated, excitedly.

"Well, when you get back, come to my office, and we'll meet your look-alike, okay."

"Okay." He left the building.

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><p>As Naruto walked away from his apartment he remembered the scroll that the ANBU had delivered. He quickly and swiftly opened and read the scroll. He threw it in the air, made a few hand-signs, and blew a small stream of fire, igniting the note, as he walked away the note quickly burned away.<p>

It said-

_**Naruto,**_

_**Come to the council chambers, second floor, and third door to your left. We will examine your ninja skills, as to ascertain your rank. Remember your back-story; you will be grilled as to find any holes in your past. Fair warning: they're as fickle, cunning, and cutthroat as a snake.  
><strong>_

**_Third Hokage,  
><em>**

**_Hiruzen Sarutobi  
><em>**

Naruto stepped into the dim chamber as he looked upon the ancestors of the Leaf Village's most prestigious clans.

A man in his thirty's with his sandy blonde hair in a mullet, a Yamanaka, obviously. A woman in her early forty's, her harsh lavender eyes glaring at all who dared to question her leadership, a Hyuuga, but a female clan head, huh. A young man in his teens, a smile on his face studying him discreetly, three tomoes in each of his blood red eyes. An Uchiha smiling, and not evilly, who would've guessed. Wait… OH MY GOD THE APOCALIPSE IS COMING! A man grinning ferally, showing off his elongated incisors. An Inuzuka, surprise, surprise. A female yawning boredly, eyes unfocused and openly wishing she wasn't there right now, three guesses, a Nara. A woman, (at least he thought it was a woman) her face covered by a tall collar, studying him carefully, an Aburame, he thought of Shino, _shudder_. And a large heavyset elderly male, munching on a piece of dango. An Akimichi, hm. Food...

The Third, eager to start, cleared his throat, getting everyone's undivided attention.

"I have called this council session, because, we have a young man here, wanting to join our village. His village banished him, because of a botching of an assassination. The reason for the failure was the assassination target was a pregnant woman, and he does not kill innocents, the target was to kill the woman to gain control of the daimyo, who was married to the target, the child was his. Allow me to introduce to you, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, formerly, of the Uzumaki Family."

The Council muttered to themselves before the Hyuuga spoke: "Why so hesitant to eliminate the target, to be a shinobi is to kill your emotions and ethics, if you cannot do this, you're not worthy of calling yourself, Ninja."

"I am not murdering an innocent civilian, I am not a monster, I am a human, and I will not become a machine, killing all who I am commanded to kill. I will do as my emotions and instincts tell me. I listen to them all, my logic, my instincts, and my emotions work as a team. I will not ignore any of them, but they guide me, not rule me."

The council, again, mumbled to themselves.

"A very solid answer, however your emotions, when you let them 'guide you' can control you." The Yamanaka stated, eying him warily.

"Sometimes, your emotions need to be let go, however there is another side to that. Your emotions control you, as to not allow logic to override emotion. Balance is the key to a great shinobi."

Most of the council looked impressed, the few who didn't is, the Hyuuga, and a few on the civilian council.

"Now that Young Naruto has survived your interrogation, we will adjourn to the training grounds to evaluate his skill level."

* * *

><p>Minato sighed as he dropped from the tree he was practicing the Tree-Climbing exorcise on. He had made some progress, but not as much as he had hoped. His chakra control wasn't where he wanted it, but he had six months until he joined the academy. He was confident he could get it where he wanted.<p>

As he wiped his brow he decided to call it quits for the day, when he gathered his gear, he heard voices coming close to where he was. He recognized the Third Hokage's voice and a few others. Panicking, he quickly hid in a nearby bush.

"Training Ground #59 will suffice for our needs; it's out of the way, so we shouldn't disturb anyone."

As the council made their way to the edge of the grounds, the Hokage snapped his fingers and three ANBU appeared in a flash of smoke, they bowed quickly to the Hokage, and then snapped to attention.

The Hokage spoke with authority as he told the ANBU about their purpose.

"Deer, Mouse, Raptor, you are the best in your respective fields. Deer your taijutsu is unmatched, Mouse, your genjutsu skills are legendary, and Raptor, your ninjutsu skills make you a force to be reckoned with. Your mission is to evaluate Young Naruto's skills in each of your fields."

"HAI, LORD HOKAGE."

"Naruto, you will first face Deer in a taijutsu only match, then you will be subjected to Mouse's Genjutsu; he will subject you to an E-Rank, D-Rank, B-Rank, and finally an A-Rank genjutsu. Finally, you will face Raptor in a Ninjutsu Contest. You will display your best jutsu, and your affinities, if you've discovered yours yet." Sarutobi told him.

Minato's head was spinning as he heard what this 'Naruto' had to do for the Hokage. As he looked from the Hokage to Naruto, his heart skipped a beat. Misaki had been right, the man facing the Hokage looked just like him he was shocked he had his same hair, and everything. His heart started to beat faster and faster. This guy had to be related to him somehow. He would never guess just how right he was.

Naruto and Deer faced each other, as the council looked on excitedly. The Hokage looked around at the councilors and smirked at their faces.

As fast a Minato's future signature move, they were off, Deer started with an axe kick, aiming for Naruto's jugular, Naruto dodged, and followed up with a roundhouse kick that connected with a _CRACK_.

Deer flew twelve feet in the air before righting himself, and going back on the offensive. Naruto and Deer traded blow after blow, with sharp _CRACKS _when someone got hit. They became nothing more than blurs, matching blow for blow, not one landing a hit.

Then, deer hit his kunai pouch, and triggered a smoke bomb. Thick purple smoke surrounded them, and punches, chops, and kicks began breaking the sound barrier. There was a deafening _CRASH, _and a figure shot down to earth. The unidentified person hit the ground with purple smoke trailing behind him. The earth shattered upon impact, chunks of dark, moist earth flew in every direction, and the jounin/kage speculators had to use every bit of their shinobi skill to dodge the flying dirt. The young six-year-old, however, was covered by a tree, so he didn't get a thing on him.

Naruto sailed out of the cloud of smoke in the air, down to the crater he kicked Deer into. Subconsciously, he slipped into the Hachidori no Bara, The Hummingbird Rose. It was his own personal style that relied on unpredictable, quick, strong attacks that could vary from tenketsu points to broken bones. Knowing several Hyuuga had its perks, you know.

Deer was caught… Well he was caught like a deer in headlights. He tried to dodge the lefts and the rights that were coming but the unpredictability got to him as he ran into one hell of an uppercut.

Naruto threw a barrage of attacks; however Deer was able to narrowly dodge them all. As he threw punch after punch, he finally saw an opening in his guard: as Deer dodged his kick, he threw the mother of all punches. He heard the _CRUNCH_ of his fist hitting the side of Deer's head, seconds later he dropped to the ground unconscious.

The council looked on as Deer was checked by the medic. Naruto walked up to the Third Hokage.

"So, what do you think?"

"Very impressive, Naruto, you have definitely shown Sennin level Taijutsu. Next up is the genjutsu portion of the exam.

* * *

><p><em>One Genjutsu Exam Later<em>

"Your ability to cast genjutsu is abysmal. It appears that you have too much chakra to cast all but the highest ranking genjutsu, and even then, you have to much range for anything except wartime. But you can't be caught inside a genjutsu; they just don't work on you." Mouse said flatly.

_Harsh…_

Naruto and Raptor stood side by side as Hyiana Hyuuga, with her Byakugan active, presided as referee. Raptor went first as he flipped through Hand-Signs he called out: "Fire style: Flame of the Apocalypse." A stream of white-hot fire erupted from his mouth and split into three streams and converged on an unsuspecting training dummy. Needless to say the dummy was ash, with a five foot radius of blackened earth around it.

Naruto made the sign for the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he held his hand out and the clones started to expel and rotate wind chakra and form it into a sphere. Seconds later, a fully formed Rasen-shuriken was launched at the dummy. The dummy was wood powder. Along with everything within a forty foot span of land and trees behind the dummy.

"What was that? I've never seen anything like it." Raptor

It's called the Rasen-shuriken; it is an S-Rank Ninjutsu, and my second strongest technique.

"Your second strongest, what's your strongest jutsu?" Hyiana asked,

It's a variation of the Rasen-shuriken, called Rasenhakai; however its event horizon is too big to demonstrate here. Let's just say that it can take on a bjuu and win hands down, …and destroy several miles of anything and have the same effect as… well, everything would look like Buster, over there." He pointed to the pile of dust.

Numerous cries of-"Impossible!" were heard around the training grounds.

"I REJECT YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN; I CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE IF I WANT!" He yelled loudly, looking a lot like a child.

Minato was breathless, that jutsu was the coolest thing he had ever seen, he had seen the fire jutsu, and was impressed, and however, when he saw that Rasen-shuriken, he was blown away. And there was an even stronger version of it, his mouth was watering at the mechanics of the technique, Naruto had to be some kind of genius to create the jutsu.

"Next is the affinity demonstration."

Again Raptor flipped through Hand-Signs, and a stream of fire destroyed a dummy, a few more signs later the smoldering flame was doused.

After Raptor stepped off to the side, Naruto stepped up. Without hand signs Naruto lifted a river of water up from the stream, they formed crude shuriken and shredded through the training dummy. He flipped through Hand-Signs and a narrow plateau of earth rose from the ground and split into flat projectiles.

"All right-" The Third Hokage was interrupted when Naruto flipped through more hand-signs and blew a stream of fire out of his mouth.

Before Sarutobi had the chance to talk, Naruto started to fly through even more Hand-Signs and lightning gathered in his hand, he charged a dummy and impaled it with his lightning induced hand. Naruto held out his hand as if he were pushing something away from him, or getting ready to catch something.

Minato was just exasperated, this guy had four elemental affinities, while he didn't know much about them; he knew that many ninja only had one, this guy had FOUR! Suddenly, he started to feel something pulling him forward, he grabbed on to a tree next to him, trying not to fly away.

The council looked in awe as an invisible force started pulling debris toward him; suddenly a flash of gold came into their vision. They realized it was a child, before anyone could act; Naruto had the boy in his arms.

Naruto noticed that while he was manipulating wind, a blonde boy was pulled towards him. In the nick of time, he threw a tri-pronged kunai near the boy._ Sorry, Old Man third. It's an emergency…_ And quickly caught him in a bright yellow flash of light.

_WHEW!_ He had feared that he wouldn't be able to act quickly enough.

As he set the boy down he gazed at his face: the boy looked just like him, his breath left him as he looked into the boys eyes, and he uttered one word-

"Dad?"

* * *

><p><strong>AND THE PLOT THICKENS! DAH DAH DAAAAAAH! <strong>

**See you next time on~**

**When the Dad Becomes the Son!**

**Mrs. Kitsune OUT SUCKUHS! **

**Edited 1~4~13  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**YO! PEOPLE! WHAT'S UP?! Hopefully, only the ceiling and the sky, god forbid you be attacked by a purple flying baby. **

**Dani: Where the heck did that come from?  
><strong>

**Me: I have no idea, Dani, I thought that it came from you.  
><strong>

**Dani: No... not me...  
><strong>

**Me: Huh... oh well. So after this chapter, everything gets... Me-ified.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Dad?"<p>

"Huh, d-did you just call me _dad_?" The blonde kid asked.

"What, no, I-...it's just that you look a lot like my father."

Minato looked to this mysterious man who looked like him. An awkward silence fell upon the two, until Hyiana Hyuuga interrupted.

"Excuse me, but I thought you were an orphan." She said with a slightly nasally voice.

"I _was_, but I had a _photo_, hel_lo_." Turning to Minato he said, "You're the spitting image of him, I lost the photo long ago, but I'll never forget his face."

As Hiruzen Sarutobi looked between the two blondes, he immediately realized the connection between the two. Naruto was obviously the future offspring of Minato, however before he could think more on the subject; Minato grabbed the older blonde in a bone crushing hug.

"I know why you said dad, because you're my daddy! Right? I'm right, aren't I?"

Naruto, who knew who the young child was, was confused. Didn't his father live with the Namikaze clan?

"I'm Minato, if you didn't know dad, Minato Ichiroku. What's your name? Where's my mom? Why did you give me up for adoption, didn't you love me?" Naruto could see tears in his eyes.

Minato's voice went from excited to hurt, as he fired question after question. Naruto was taken back to his child hood as he listened to Minato's questioning. He remembered asking the Third Hokage the same type of questions His father was asking him. His heart clenched as the tears in the young blonde's eyes began to fall.

Minato felt tears fall as his 'father' stared at him. Did he not want him? Did he not- His thoughts were cut off as he was wrapped in a warm hug. He suddenly found his head on an orange shoulder, and he felt… warm. Like he just jumped into a stream of sunshine, or after a day of trudging around in the snow and he took a long bath in the hot springs. He felt his 'dad' rub circles on his back, and ruffle his hair as he murmured soothing words in his ear. He wrapped his small arms around the man who he thought was his dad, and started sobbing into his shoulder.

"I am very sorry Minato, I'm sorry that you've been holding on to this pain, and I'm sorry I have to say that I am not your dad. But believe me, I know how you feel. Until the Uzumaki found me, I was alone. I was literally living in the wild, with no one to give me hugs, say hi, or talk to. I know the loneliness, I know the pain. I was the outsider in the clan, with my blonde hair, I was shamelessly teased. Everyone else had red hair. The only person who was my friend was my sensei. Not even my gennin team was nice to me."

Minato's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it; this guy was alone? Just like him?

"B-but you look just like me, if you're not my dad why do you look like me."

"I don't know, Minato, but I know that you can't be my son. I would have had to be like, thirteen. That is way too young to have a girlfriend in my opinion. Hey, could you believe that I was the deadlast of my year?"

Minato gasped. _Him?_ The deadlast?

"I guess not, huh? Well I'll just have to tell you that I failed three times. I failed because I was the clan pariah. Everybody blamed me for everything that went wrong, and they rigged my tests for me to fail. I couldn't do a simple bunshin, I couldn't do the academy taijutsu, and I had to resort to pranks just to get attention. To make them _see_ me. All they did was scorn and ignore me, and if doing pranks made them look at me than darn it! I would steal the ceremonial sword and replace it with a banana! Just to make myself realize that I was alive!

"I was so alone. Only my academy sensei would look for me when I was gone, wonder why I was failing, and try to help me. He was the only person that I could trust with my life, and he saved it more often than not. He would take me out for ramen, and help pay the jacked up apartment rent."

Minato was sobbing. _Someone understood!_ Someone knew how it _felt!_ To be alone, with no one to say that-that…

"I understand."

And then both blondes were crying. But the older one was just letting tears escape, ones he held back for a long time, but he didn't let himself make a sound. After all, it would only make Minato cry more.

* * *

><p>While the extemely fluffy and heartfelt exchange between the two blondes was happening, the Hokage was wielding his keen intellect, as he thought about the situation.<p>

He had seen Minato's adamant desire for a family. He also knew that Naruto's past would assure that Naruto went with his newly formed plan.

"Ahem, Young Minato, I can verify that Naruto here is not your biological father;" at this, Minato looked even more devastated, "However I believe that Naruto and you are somewhat related."

When Naruto heard the Third Hokage speak, he felt a shiver up his spine; the only time that happened was when the old man would get an idea in his head that he just couldn't refuse. As he looked into the eyes of the Sarutobi clan head he saw an understanding and deviousness, which always put him on edge when he was younger, now brought the same feeling.

The Council of clan heads looked on wondering how the bizarre events would end. Many seeing the calculating look on the face of their Hokage knew that he had found a solution to the problematic series of events that found them.

"Naruto, you have a history as an orphan, do you not?"

"Yes, did you not hear my backstory? I remember enough from before the clan found me to tell my story to Minato here, and I remember _everything_ that happened after they found me."

Minato was shocked, this guy was the same as him, and he was saddened that this man he thought his father had once felt the same pain that he felt.

Hiruzen cleared his throat yet again as all eyes were on him.

"Young Minato that is how you feel now is it not?" All Minato could do was nod his head as the Third spoke again.

"Naruto, Minato and you share a painful past, you're both orphans, and despite not being his biological father, you handled his emotions with care like a parent would." He continued. "You both, just from what I've seen, are so much alike. So Naruto, how would you like to become the boy's adoptive father?"

Minato looked at the Lord Hokage in hope. Could he really get a father, a family? It was like living in a dream. He looked toward Naruto, and hoped beyond hope. Naruto, on the other hand, was cursing the Hokage. He knew that the old man was up to something but to throw this on him was just crazy, he was only eighteen years old for goodness sake. After looking into Minato's extremely hopeful eyes, he knew that he would agree, because he knew that if he didn't, that a small child would be crushed.

He sighed, "I would love to become Minato's father. However I don't have the room for another in my room at the orphanage apartment."

Hiruzen looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling and looking at him.

"I believe I have a solution, your ninjutsu and taijutsu skills are high sennin rank and your ability to create jutsu is astounding, therefore I am giving you the rank of Sennin, and the opportunity to allow you and Minato to create a clan, you can create your own clan name and you will receive a seat on the council, however only after you marry and have two offspring. Minato will be listed as one, and you will have five years to have another."

Naruto and Minato looked on dumbfounded as the Hokage spoke officially and with authority. The rank of Sennin technically didn't exist yet, so did that make Naruto the first Sennin?

_Wait a second… JIRAIYA AND THE TOADS! How could I forget? The summon world is separate from space and time, so Gamakichi could bring me the contract! And some of my stuff! This is awesome!_

"As for lodging, there is a compound that is available for you, the former tenants were the Naka clan, but they abandoned the village a little over a month ago so it shouldn't be in too bad of shape. We will of course have to purchase furniture for the main house. That was taken when they defected.

"Now if you're going to start a clan you will have to think of a name, If you use the name Uzumaki, the royal family of Whirlpool Country would find get angry, and we don't need the political backlash, so that's out of the question, and I doubt that you want to keep the last name the orphanage issued you, Minato."

Naruto thought for a moment. What would he name the clan that he and his father turned son were starting. As he thought about the situation something struck him, what of the Namikaze and his father's role as the Yellow Flash. From what he heard, they were a famous clan from, they had had only a few members, and the only reason they were so famous was his father and his grandfather, apparently his grandfather had been a hero in the Second Ninja World War. The strange thing is he has never even heard his grandfather's name….. Wait it couldn't be, he couldn't be, could he?

"Is the surname Namikaze taken?"

Sarutobi and the Clan heads looked to each other and shook their heads in a negative, which meant that he was _destined_ to be blown back to the past, he was destined to meet his father, and that meant that he was destined to become his own grandfather.

But who would he be if he allowed fate to get what it wanted? He wasn't going to sit back and watch it all happen. I he was indeed destined to be his own grandfather, that supposedly meant that no matter what he did, he wasn't going to be able to change anything. To hell with that! He was the Number-One-Unpredictable-Knucklehead-Ninja! And he was going to change the future with his bare hands.

He was ripped from his thoughts when the old man cleared his throat.

"You wish to take the clan name Namikaze, then?"

Naruto looked to Minato to gauge his reaction to the name, and saw a look of happiness and the irrefutable hope that this was not a dream. He knew that Minato had no trouble with the name.

"Yes, we shall be known as Naruto and Minato Namikaze. The greatest heroes who ever lived." Suddenly Naruto felt a weight on his side; he looked down to see Minato hugging his leg. He chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Well, why don't we head back to my office and make it official?"

* * *

><p>Misaki Kaito was heading home to after completing her shift at the orphanage. As she passed the villagers, giving each one a happy greeting, she thought of Minato and his look alike, how would the boy react when they met? Would he get his hopes up, what if the man was somehow Minato's father, what if he wasn't and Minato hopes of having a family were crushed once again, she loved Minato like a son, she would've adopted him, but she didn't have the income, or the housing to support him. Hearing him speak of not having a family tore at her heart, she wanted to hold him and tell him that he had a family, that he had her.<p>

So lost in thought was she, that she bumped into a strong chest, looking up, she saw that it was Naruto, as she was about to apologize, she noticed who was with him.

She, of course, recognized the Hokage, and the clan heads of the Leaf Council, but the last surprised her.

"Hey Misaki-san, you'll never guess what happened."

Misaki, who saw the boy's happiness, thought back to her earlier thoughts, it seemed as if the blondes were indeed related. But, because he was so excited she played along.

"What happened, Minato?"

"The guy you said looked like me; he was by my usual training ground getting e-evaluated by the Hokage. The first test was a taijutsu exam. It was awesome. He fought some guy like Wolf, named Deer, then he went through a genjutsu exam, it was kind of boring, but then, he and another guy in a mask named Raptor showed their best jutsu, it was so cool, he did like five super cool jutsu, one wind, one fire, one earth, one water, and one lightning, the wind one was an awesome ball thing that looked like a shuriken, it blew a training dummy into pieces."

"Really?" She started to sweat. This guy… was so powerful. He could take care of her little Minato easily.

"Yup, and guess what else, I thought he was my dad, 'cause we look alike and stuff, but turns out he wasn't." At this, Minato lowered his head, however a moment after he lowered it, he rose it to show a blinding smile. "But, Lord Hokage asked if he wanted to adopt me, and guess what… He said yes."

Misaki's eyes widened, he had agreed to adopt Minato. She was happy for Minato, sure, but… she saw him as a son.

Just as she was about to protest the boy's adoption, she looked down at his smiling face. He looked so happy, before she had the time to think anymore, Minato spoke again.

"The Hokage has even given us Clan Status, and I have a new name." Minato struck a silly pose as he shouted to the world. "My name is Minato Namikaze, future shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village!"

* * *

><p><strong>I'm tired... <strong>

**I won't be able to update very fast from now on, I've got exams and stuff next week. **

***Sighs* I'm really into this story, and I hope it's going to b really long.**

**This chapter was a little bit shorter than the others, only eight pages, but damn it! I gave you like, four chapters in one day! That's pretty good!**

* * *

><p><strong>Next time~<strong>

"_Hey, Minato, you start the academy today, don't you?"_

"_Yeah, dad! Hey, c-could you walk with me to the academy? Uh, I-I want to show you my classroom!"_

"_Sure kid. You sure you aren't nervous?"_

"_N-No!"_

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah… remember to make friends, and work well with everybody. It could work to your benefit in the future."_

"_Okay daddy! I won't forget! After all, I'm going to be the Godaime Hokage!"_

"_Godaime? What about the Yondaime?"_

"_That spot's reserved for you, dad!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Mrs. Kitsune out!<strong>

**Edited 1~4~13  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome back to WtDBtS!**

**I know that it's been a few days, and to all of my new readers- HELLO! (But it's a good idea to read the rest of the story first, otherwise you'll be cunfuzzled. /:D) ha! A new word! **

**Cunfuzzle- con-FUZZ- el~ The syn. of confuse, or the holy lovechild of 'puzzle' and 'confuse'. **

**Now, this story might be written differently now that I, myself, and me are writing the whole chapters, not just editing. :D**

* * *

><p><em>Last time~<em>

_"The Hokage has even given us Clan Status, and I have a new name." Minato struck a silly pose as he shouted to the world. "My name is Minato Namikaze, future shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village!"_

* * *

><p>"Th-that's great Minato!" Misaki said to him. "Remind me to bake you a chocolate cake, I know that you love chocolate!" she laughed quietly. "Have you been to see the compound yet? Or are you packing up here and heading over?"<p>

Naruto walked in, "Hey, Minato!"

"Yeah, Dad?" Minato spun towards him, and hugged him tightly around the waist. "Whacha need?"

"Hey, don't break my ribs! Loosen up! There you go, you have quite a grip, be careful with it. Oh, and we need to get you packed up, we go to the compound ASAP." The two blondes had identical sunshine grins on their faces. It was scary sometimes how much they looked alike. Same hair, same eyes, same tan, same _everything. _Except the whisker marks. Those were strictly Naruto.

"Really! I gotta pack!" he ran to room #311. "Come on, slowpoke! Even the civilians at the academy trying to be ninja because it was 'cool' can go faster than you! Hurry up!"

"Hey! Don't insult me with that analogy! I have less stuff than you do! _You_ hurry up!"

"Nya!"

"Nya!"

"Nya!"

*Sigh* "Like father like son." Misaki smiled, and walked to her apartment to make a cake.

"Oh, Misaki!" Naruto called.

She turned. "Hm?"

"We're adopting the old Naka clan compound, although it's the Namikaze clan compound now. Why don't you come over for dinner? I know that Minato likes you, and even though he probably won't brag it to any friends, he sees you as a mother-figure." He fiddled with the green crystal around his neck. "Well, actually, we might go out for ramen. I don't know how to cook. I swear, I burned soup once."

She laughed. "You burned _soup?_ How is that even _possible?_" she laughed again.

"Don't judge! It was a mission!"

"You had a mission to burn soup?"

"No! ...there was an ambush."

"Oh, well then you've got an excuse."

"I need an excuse to find a way to burn chicken broth with no jutsu or gunpowder?" He raised an eyebrow.

She laughed again, and then turned back to her apartment. "I can't go tonight; I've got a date with a guy on a date site named Jiraiya."

Naruto winced. "I know the guy. Wear something very modest. VERY modest. Like, down to your elbows, up to your neck, down to you calves, stuff like that." And without another word, he went into his apartment to grab his still not unpacked bag, and then was out a few seconds later. He then walked into his new son's apartment to help him pack.

* * *

><p>Naruto opened the door to his… dad? No, son? ARRG! <em>Minato's<em> apartment.

"Hey! Kid! Need some help?" he called out into the now nearly empty apartment. Heh… this place brought back memories…

"Uh, yeah! Sure, I'm in the bedroom!" he heard his…son call from the hallway. He walked down into it, and saw a door open ajar. He poked his head in, and saw his old room. Down to the bed. Ramen posters, half dead plant, grey walls, though the paint wasn't peeling, ruddy tan bedspread, dirty (But not broken) window, and the same small blonde six-year-old trying to stuff a few knick-knacks and clothes into a bag or three.

"Whoa… you work fast. But I have a better way." Minato raised an eyebrow. _Pause for effect… _"Seals."

"Seals? How can an animal help me here, dad?" He asked, sweatdropping.

"Not those kinds, dummy. Storage seals!" Naruto laughed, a deep, strong, and unwavering sound. "Here," he said, still chuckling. "Let me show you-" He took out a scroll, a brush, and a pot of ink.

He unrolled the scroll, and painted on a simple storage seal. The familiar symbols coming into his mind and flew onto the paper as if he was simply blowing off the dust of a scroll, and revealed a seal.

Naruto then, to his blonde counterpart's awe, placed one of Minato's bags on top, formed the ram seal, and the bag disappeared in a cloud of smoke that quickly dispersed out the window.

"Wow! Can you teach me that? That was so cool! Are there others? How much chakra does it need?" he asked question after question, and Naruto could only smile. Minato was so much like him, or was it the other way around? Anyways, he was eager to learn all that he could about everything he thought was cool. _Like father like son… which is which? Oh well. This is now. And now my father has become my son. My son… that's a bit weird, but oh well._

He sealed the rest of his son's stuff away, and they were out the door.

* * *

><p><em>Minato's Pov (FIRST ONE! YAY!)<em>

I looked up at my dad as we walked out of the building. I turned to look at the place once more before I hoped to never see it again. Misaki was nice and all, but people would always tease me for my strange hair, and deep blue eyes, and would leave mean notes, break my stuff, and generally beat me down. I had gotten into more than one fight over the strange color, and had always managed to pull it off to Misaki as a training accident, or someone got a lucky hit in a spar.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback no jutsu! <em>

"_OI! Blondie! Why are you so weird?" A girl called across the playground._

"_Yeah! Why don't you dye your hair black? Then at least you'll be only half ugly!" Her friends joined in._

"_Why are your eyes so blue?"_

"_Do you wear contacts?"_

_I finally spoke. "Leave me alone…" _

"_What was that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you over how much of a loser you are." An Uchiha boy walked up._

"_I said, leave me alone…"_

"_Or what?"_

"…"

"_Come on! What can a loser do to a gennin like me?"_

"_Lots of things. I could walk away, or I could gut you, or I could report you to the Hokage for abusing your rather meager power as a gennin."_

_He punched me, and my head snapped back painfully. _

"_Are you going to crawl back to mommy now that you've got an owie?" He laughed cruelly. "Oh wait; you don't have a mother, or a father, for that matter. How does it feel to be an orphan? Does it hurt? Or are you just a stuck up druggie like the rest of them?" They all joined in on the laughter, not even realizing that I had left a few minutes later. _

_They were all the same. They were all monsters. No one cared at all, no one understood, and no one was there to stick up for me. _

_I saw a flash of yellow hair across the street, and I turned quickly towards the source. I saw a blonde man, walking down the street. Just walking. No one looking at him funny, or calling him names, or even raising an eyebrow at his orange and red clothes. _

_I decided that I would be accepted like that guy. He was blonde like me, and he wore almost neon clothes, and he was accepted. I would gain the village's respect; I would do it as a shinobi, and earn their respect and make sure no one would feel the pain like I have to. _

_I will be a legend._

_Flashback no jutsu- release!_

* * *

><p>I looked up at my dad again. It had been him whom I had seen, and at the moment, he was my idol.<p>

We walked for a few minutes, when I couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey Dad?" I asked, reaching up to his hand.

"Yes, Minato?" He smiled down at me, and I felt that warmth that I had felt at the training grounds blossom over me.

"Where's our clan compound?" I asked, squeezing his fingers.

"Oh! I never told you! It's up on top of the Hokage Monument, behind a layer of trees that hides it from view." He squeezed my hand back, his hand nearly smothering my own.

"Ah ha ha! So cool!" I yelled out. People were starting to stare now. I think it was because the 'blonde freak' was holding hands with the first Sannin ever. Among the stares though, were glares from the younger generations. Were they jealous? Or were they angry that they're punching bag wasn't fair game now? _Oh well! They can kiss my ass now that I have something they don't! I've got probably the strongest dad ever, and the coolest, and the nicest, and the awesomest, and… he's my family. He's the best just for that._

Dad had noticed the glares, and I could feel a very small killing intent leak out from his chakra, but he squashed it a few seconds later.

Then, without warning, he picked me up from under my arms and hoisted me over his shoulders. I gave a rather undignified yelp, and smacked his head.

"Warn me next time!" I laughed.

"So there's a next time, eh, Minato?" He laughed with me. I was having the time of my life here.

"Maybe, but only if you warn me daddy!" We laughed again, and the time it took to get to the Hokage Monument went by like that.

When we came up to the mountain, dad revealed a hidden set of grey, shiny, granite stairs behind a bunch of really tall redwood trees. Under the shade of the trees, the air was unnaturally cool, and it was a nice change from the hot air around the village. About halfway up the stairs, the steps became more decorative, with swirling indentations of clouds. Storms seemed to leap off of the steps, and you could almost see the wind whipping the rain across the stone.

I started to hear bells. I looked up into the trees, and saw silver bells tied to the branches with braided red string. As he breeze blew through the trees, the bells played a beautiful melody that had me gasping in awe. This whole place was a surreal dream, and I was having a hard time imagining what the compound would look like, would it be as mysterious as the forest? Or would it just be a bunch of boring brown buildings like the Uchiha clan compound?

I heard dad chuckle.

"Minato, are you excited?" He asked me, a smile that could rival the sun gracing his face.

"More than anything, I can't wait!" I rested my chin on top of his head, the spikes, like mine, were incredibly soft. I closed my eyes, and listened to his footsteps, the bells in the trees, and the leaves until I caught myself falling asleep.

I thought for a minute, then closed my eyes again, and fell asleep holding onto my dad.

* * *

><p><em>Naruto's Pov<em>

Minato had fallen asleep, and I personally thought it was adorable.

But Konoha would have to be attacked by Pain again for me to admit it out loud.

The forest around the Namikaze compound wasn't ever named, so I was trying to think of a name for them. I looked around, hoping that something would give me an idea. I looked over to the sunset over the Third's head, and saw a myriad of pinks and yellows, with white and red clouds sweeping across the landscape. _Sakura, Jiraiya, and Tsunade… _

I looked over to the dark forest, and saw grey wolves prowling for prey in the shadows, magnificent bucks walking with their mates, birds resting in the trees, white daffodils growing at the base of absolutely giant redwood trees, and… everyone was here. All of the Konoha Twelve, as well as the sensei, the people of the village, and _everyone._

_I know what to call this place now… Kako no Mori. The Forest of the Past._

I saw the gates to the compound. Big, intricate, black, tall gates that when opened, would glide outward without a sound. The walls surrounding them were under a genjutsu to make it look like solid trees. All in all, it was very hidden, and had the natural protection of the forest. The bells actually had a purpose; they were under a seal to ring whenever someone was coming. The world's best doorbell.

"Hey, Minato. Hey, buddy, wake up, we're here." Minato stirred, and then yawned sleepily.

"We're here?" He yawned again, and rubbed his eyes cutely.

"Yep, you want to go in and see your room?"

"Yeah!"

We walked into the compound, and we were both amazed at what we saw. There were no concrete paths, or even any real flatness to the whole thing. It was almost as if the architects hadn't wanted to take away from the beauty of the forest, so they just left it there. There was no… quote on quote 'civilization' to it, but there were well worn paths all throughout the grass, flowers, and trees. There was a large, clear, ice-cold pond with a large pebble bottom, and a boulder big enough for two people to meditate in comfort, and had a small waterfall in the background. There were no 'houses' per se, but large tree houses.

"Hee hee… now the fun part!" I yelled out, startling Minato.

"What fun part?" He asked, irked that I interrupted his gawking of our new home.

"Exploring!" I yelled out to no one.

Minato was already gone from my shoulders.

* * *

><p><em>Minato's Pov<em>

I already found my room. I went straight to the biggest house, and ran up the stairs embedded into the tree. I opened the door, and saw that the inside was normal, for an awesome tree house. Not that I had ever been in any, but yeah. It had black and white tile floors, white walls, a blue faux fur rug, dark leather couch with green pillows, black coffee table, and a bunch of other living room stuff.

I went down a hallway, and opened doors all the way down. One room was orange and black, one was white and purple, and another was black and blue. My room was tan, and had a dark brown wooden floor. It had huge floor to ceiling windows, and the last remnants of the sunset were making the whole room glow. There was a medium sized alcove that had a desk, and there was a dark brown bed with a burnt yellow bed spread with black birds flying across it. I looked up at the ceiling, and saw that it was blotched with black, almost as if one was lying on their back looking up at the leaves on the trees.

What was up with these people and trees? I didn't know, but it was cool. The room was really _tall. _It was almost forty feet up to the ceiling. Huh.

I looked over at the desk again, and saw something similar to a windowsill, only on the wall, not under a window. There were several of them, all the way up to the ceiling. _Maybe I could put some plants and pictures up there…_

I heard Dad come in, and I grinned.

I ran out, to see that he had staked a claim on the orange and black one. Orange walls, black floor, dark orange rugs, black desk, black bed, orange bedspread, and… red pillows. Wow… that's out of place.

* * *

><p><em>Six months later...<em>

I woke up in my new room, and smiled. My life was good. I heard Dad yelling from the hallway.

"Minato! Wake up!"

"But WHY!" I yelled back. "Don't wanna!"

"Come on and eat your breakfast, you don't have much time." He yelled from the... kitchen?

"What do you mean 'don't have much time'?" I pouted as I got out of bed. I walked down the hallway

"Hey, Minato, you start the academy today, don't you?"

I gasped. "Oh yeah! Hey, c-could you walk with me to the academy? Uh, I-I want to show you my classroom!" I would never say it out loud, but I was scared. There were a lot of clan heirs that might not like me. _What if I don't make any friends?_

"Sure kid. You sure you aren't nervous?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"N-No!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… remember to be nice, make friends, don't show off... too much, and work well with everybody. It could work to your benefit in the future." He said sagely.

"Okay daddy! I won't forget! After all, I'm going to be the Godaime Hokage!" I yelled.

"Godaime? What about the Yondaime?" He asked, confused.

"That spot's reserved for you, dad!"

He stared at me for a second, then burst out laughing.

"That's my boy!" He laughed loudly again. "Now eat your ramen, you've got to keep your strength up."

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, I know. But I have to end it here. <strong>

**I don't think that I could choke it along any more, really. **

**OH OH! I know that some of you are great artists, so draw a picture of the characters! Misaki (although she probably won't show up to much more, but… darn plot bunnies, making nests and multiplying in my brain matter.) Naruto, Minato, Young Sarutobi, Anybody… label it though. **

**I'm looking forwards to seeing your ****colorful**** drawings. PM me the links. **

**I'll post them at THE VERY BOTTOM of my profile. **

**Sayonara!**

**Mrs. Kitsune (&Dani)**

**Edited 1~4~13  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**I know, I know, I haven't updated in over a month, and I'm sorry. REALLY sorry. All of my other fics… have gone unupdated... it BURNS I TELL YOU! BURNS!**

**Well, I hope you like this chapter.**

* * *

><p><em>Last time~<em>

_"Yeah, yeah, yeah… remember to be nice, make friends, don't show off... too much, and work well with everybody. It could work to your benefit in the future." He said sagely._

_"Okay daddy! I won't forget! After all, I'm going to be the Godaime Hokage!" I yelled._

_"Godaime? What about the Yondaime?" He asked, confused._

_"That spot's reserved for you, dad!"_

_He stared at me for a second, and then burst out laughing._

_"That's my boy!" He laughed loudly again. "Now eat your ramen, you've got to keep your strength up."_

* * *

><p>I quickly ate my ramen, and ran back to my room to get dressed.<p>

I had a blue T-shirt, blue pants, and black Shinobi sandals. I strapped my new kunai pouch to my belt, and I tied my kunai holster to my right thigh. I ran a brush through my hair, only for it to pop back into place a few seconds. A delayed reaction this time, not immediate. An improvement!

I ran back down the hallway, to see my dad cleaning dishes. It was such a strange sight, such a strong man doing _dishes._ He was wearing his normal orange sandals, black ANBU pants, black fishnet shirt, and red coat with black flames licking up the bottom.

"You know, we're both going to be late if we don't get going. I do have a meeting with the Hokage, you know." He sighed. "With that war with Suna and Iwa drawing near, the Old Man is having a meeting with all of the heavy hitters in his arsenal. Namely, me."

"How do you know that a war is coming?" I asked. "No one's received word of one in the village."

"Suna and Iwa are using military force to expand their territories. They have both set their eyes on Konoha. Everyone is taking sides, and so far, in Konoha's favor. But, war is guaranteed. Just for the simple fact that peace cannot and will not last forever. No matter how many people wish it otherwise, war is an essential part of peace." He sighed.

"But why is war a part of peace? They're total opposites." I asked him, completely confused.

"Without war, there can't be peace, for without something worse, there can't be something better. Same with peace. No peace would generally equal war, but without something to fight for, the people's Will of Fire will dwindle, and be put out by the slightest breath. And then they would start dying, for absolutely no reason. The people would be shadows of what they once were, and no one would have peace, even if the fighting was over and done with. If it was all peace, all the time, no one would be strong because of it, and if something bad happened, no one would survive." Dad said very sagely. He then did a complete turnaround.

"Well, time to go!" He grabbed me around the waist, and jumped out of the window.

During the six months we had been a family, we had changed the scenery a little bit. We had put koi fish into the pond, and we fed them every day. Dad had put a lot of toad statues around the forest in very unexpected places. I guess you could call it surreal when you walk into a clearing to meditate (Dad taught me how, and I thought it was really calming. He said it helped with chakra control, too.) And you see a huge marble toad statue looking at you. At first I thought it was a little creepy, but after a while, I felt… safe when I was around them, like they were keeping guard, or just watching over me.

Dad had given me a little crystal frog to wear on a necklace, and it was the same color as his. He said that if I ever needed help, I could just smear blood onto it, and help would come. He seemed adamant about only using it during life or death emergencies. I would listen, because I knew it was important that I didn't use his gift in vain.

We landed on the steps leading up to the compound, and quickly ran out of the Kako no Mori. He grabbed me again when we reached the bottom, and used Hiraishin to get to the academy. All I could say when he took me along for the ride for the first time was that it tickled. The wind chakra was like hundreds of ghostly fingers attacking your belly.

At the academy, several girls screamed at the sight of two neon blondes appearing out of nowhere.

"Well, Minato, you have a good day, and don't show off too much, 'kay?" I grinned at him, and he grinned back.

"Hey dad."

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Could you let me down now?" I sweatdropped.

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Here you go." He deposited me on my feet, and he put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, good luck out there. Don't be the dead-last like I was." He looked a lot older than he actually was right then, as if he was remembering things time had long forgotten.

"No problem, Dad. Although I'll have a lot of clan heirs to compete with now. I hear that the Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Aburame, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi heirs are going to be in my class." I laughed, rubbing the back of my head.

"Mm, you forgot one." He said, grinning slyly.

"Oh? Which one?" I asked. "I think I got them all." I went over the list in my head. _No, I didn't forget one…_

"They'll all be competing with the clan heir and prodigy of the Namikaze clan." We both grinned at that.

* * *

><p>After he went to go see the Hokage, I walked into my classroom.<p>

Everybody turned to look at me, all was silent, and I swear that you could hear a pin drop. I stood there with my hand on the doorknob for a couple of seconds, staring back at everybody, just as quiet. Then, ever so slowly, I closed the door behind me, and walked purposefully to an empty seat in the long rows that could easily fit twelve but were only really allowed three. I sat down, and everyone just kept staring.

"Are you all going to stop staring at me, or not? You all look like creepers." I said, and the silence was broken.

But, all they did was start whispering about me behind my back. I decided to use this time to meditate, so I crossed my legs on the bench, closed my eyes, and listened to the rumors that were already circulating about my hair and I.

"_That's the orphan we used to pick on! Why is he here? He can't be a shinobi!"_

"_I heard that he lives on the Naka clan compound!"_

"_Well I heard that he was adopted by a shinobi that was so powerful, that the Hokage had to make up a new rank!'_

"_What's up with his hair? Is he trying to be like our clan?"_

"_Hey! Don't say that about him! He's actually kind of cute!"_

"_I personally like his hair; it's the color of sunshine._

"_And did you see his eyes? They were like the sky!"_

_Well, the fan club forms… but there are some people who might try to beat me up again…_ I thought as the teacher walked in. His face was solemn.

He walked to the center of the blackboard, and wrote something in chalk in the middle.

"_Those who wish to learn to become shinobi during the Second Great Shinobi War, sign your names below this line."_

Oh no. The war has started.

The class didn't notice the teacher, and he didn't announce his presence. I got up, and walked to the board.

I looked the teacher in the eye, and flat out asked him, "Has it started?"

His face never changed, as he stared right back, and with all seriousness, "Yes. Yes it has."

"Thank you for being honest with me, even if I could tell whether or not you were lying in the first place." I had developed the ability to tell if someone was lying or not through their eyes over the past six months, because whenever Dad would have a nightmare, his eyes would be the only way to tell if he was telling the truth about it. They were always dead. His eyes were always dead when he was lying about the hurtful stuff, and I used the ability on other people too.

"You could tell, could you? That will be a useful skill if you choose to stay." He changed, his eyes remained serious, if a little sad, and his posture, ramrod straight back, shoulders square, and arms crossed, sagged a little, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "But it's not for the faint-hearted. The reason I didn't announce it, was not only to see who would notice first, but to see the smiles on their faces for probably the last time. You noticed first, you are the true shinobi here, out of all of them, you would survive longest. I can feel it."

I smiled. "Thanks. And the reason I would survive the longest is because I was alone for most of my life." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm an orphan, and only just recently, I got a father. He's the reason I will always come back. Because he is the first family I have ever had, and I don't want to lose him because of some petty war." And on that note, I picked up the chalk, and wrote my name on the board.

He smiled. "Call me Morino-sensei, and meet me in room 301 for your real class, everything got mixed up because of the war." He sighed, and sounded tired as he ran a hand through his hair. "I agree with you though, this war started for completely petty reasons. Now go, and let me enjoy the peace of watching children laugh while I still can." He looked back at the kids, and smiled sadly at the jokes and whispers going around.

I looked too, and realized exactly why he was so happy…ish. I wasn't one to talk, but I thought children were the future. If someone were to kill all of the children, the world would fall.

I walked out, and walked down the loud hallway in silence.

War was really here.

* * *

><p><em>Naruto's POV<em>

I Hiraishined to the Hokage office about the war that was going on. I didn't tell Minato this morning because I knew that he would find out later today. When I landed, the Old Man was staring sadly at his team picture. I knew what was going through his head; memories of better times.

"Hey, Old Man. It's not good to look into the past until the future is here. When you're old and senile, and you see the young me screaming about missions, _then_ you have my permission to remember the lost ones. _Not_ before." I grinned at him.

He smiled back, then sighed, and put the picture back in its place.

"SO… Do you have any good missions for me?" I asked suggestively, clasping my hands in front of me, puppy dog eyes jutsu on full blast. "That DON'T absolutely-no-doubt-no-loopholes-minimum more than a week?" I added as an afterthought.

"You just knocked out the whole list." He sweatdropped.

"Have you seen how fast work? I knocked out a bridge on the other side of Iwa in less than ten hours. Roundtrip. Now, how many now?" I asked.

"Several hundred." He sounded resigned.

"I've got _thousands _of clones. I'll work for half pay, but I do NOT kill innocents. I will find every conceivable reason to come home before the mission completion date, or take out something else that would do the same thing as killing said innocent would cause." I stated.

He nodded, and tossed me five scrolls.

"The first is a very high rank escort, and on the way, you will take out a bridge, kill any platoons of enemies you find, salvage anything that you find would be useful to the village, or that you think is cool from any forts you find, and the fifth is an assassination. No, not an innocent, a drug dealer who gave his morphine to the wrong person. Salvage his stores, and destroy everything else. Use sealing scrolls to carry everything, and you meet the person you'll be escorting in three hours. It will take three days, but I'm sure you can shave that." He chuckled.

"You do know that it's become a game in the ANBU to see who can beat your speed mission record, right?" He grinned.

"Yup." I said, popping the 'p'. "Speaking of ANBU, I kind of wanted to join. I'm a jack-of-all-trades, master of stealth, wind, escape, and surviving wars, you got a job? But I still have to take care of my son, but I'm sure I can work with speed and accuracy. Got a 'Kitune Akuma" spot open? I have the mask from my time." I hoped he would say yes, I wanted Minato to have the mask when he was old enough. I wanted him to remember me if I died. Not that I would, mind you, but still.

"Yes, I can get the armor for you before you leave here for the escort mission. Are you going to go say goodbye to Minato?" the Third Hokage replied, a pointed look in his eye.

My eyes widened. "Oh yeah! He wanted to show me his classroom! Got to go, Old Man, bye!" I ran to the window and jumped out.

* * *

><p>At the academy, I strolled in after a brief glance at the sapling of the tree I used to swing at, and came up to the front desk. There was a lady of about thirty there; she had blonde hair, brown eyes, darkly tanned skin, and the spark of experience that only those who have had their fair share of hard times could get.<p>

"Excuse me ma'am, but could you tell me what room Minato Namikaze is in? I have to say goodbye before I have to go on a mission." I smiled sadly, and rubbed the back of my head.

She sighed. "They're giving out _those_ missions already?" Her eyes looked sad, years of experience showing in her eyes. She suddenly looked a lot older than she probably was.

"Yeah, I'll only be gone for three days this time, so it's not like I'll die right when I step out of the gates. But I still have to say goodbye, you know?" I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right foot, and smiled again.

"He should be in room 206, but if not, room 301."

"Alright. Thank you, have a nice day."

"Thank you, you too."

I went to the second floor, and saw room 206. I peeked in, and saw the teacher just standing there, staring at the class sadly as they laughed and played. They hadn't noticed him yet. I sighed. That was one of the first tests they gave I the academy, to test your observing skills. I looked for a blonde, but didn't see him anywhere. He must have noticed.

I walked back down the hallway, and jumped up the stairs to the third floor, and went straight to room 301. I peeked in, only to see Minato sitting alone with only one other person in the room.

She had long, bright red hair, green eyes, a 'prankster spark' as I like to call it, in her eyes, and a goofy grin on her face.

Kushina.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's a wrap for this chapter, folks! I'm tweaking the timeline a little for Kushina to fit, but I'm not sure what I'll do with her yet. She just kind of… appeared. Please review more, it feeds my soul. Seriously, I have way more people reading this than Time is a Fickle Thing, and yet! Thirty-six there and here… am I a bad writer? No? Then why you no review?<strong>

**Edited 1~4~13  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Yo! I have recently discovered that I'm schizophrenic, but I'm still me, if that makes any sense. Dani actually _is_ my split personality! How 'bout that, huh? **

* * *

><p>Last time, on WtDBtS~<p>

_She had long, bright red hair, green eyes, a 'prankster spark' as I like to call it, in her eyes, and a goofy grin on her face. _

_Kushina._

XxoxX

Wow. That's… fateful? I guess so. Both of my parents in the same room, unknowing of each other, and not biting each others heads off?

"Blondie, if you make fun of my hair, I will fucking kill you so hard, you will die, _to death_." I saw Kushina glare at my son. "Then I will shave your head, and use your hair as a kunai polisher."

"Nice to meet you too, I promise that I will not make fun of your hair if you don't make fun of mine. My name is not Blondie, its Minato Namikaze, what's yours?" Minato said, and then held out his hand for her to shake.

"Kushina Uzumaki, pleasure to meet you." They shook hands, and went back to silence.

I chose this moment to walk in.

"Hey, kiddo. I've got a mission, so I wanted to say… hey, you got a girlfriend?" I walked over to him, and started poking his shoulder repeatedly. Grinning all the while.

"WH-WHAT? No! Dad!" He spluttered, blushing as red as Kushina's hair.

"Ha! You're so easy to manipulate and embarrass Minato!" I laughed long and loud. "I have a mission, and I'll be gone for about three days."

I saw his face grow pale. "A mission…? Wh-what rank?"

I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Al-alright, I know. Stupid question. On-only three days, right?" His eyes started to water.

I glanced at Kushina, and her face looked really sad, before she slipped into an emotionless mask, but her eyes were shiny with emotion and pain, brimming with tears.

"Yeah buddy. At the most, it'll be three days. I promise that I'll come back; I'm not going to leave you alone here with no one to look after you. Besides, who else besides me will find a way to break the fourth wall for good?" He started laughing, and Kushina started to smile.

"Dad, you're so… so…"

"Special?" I added in.

"No..."

"Different?" I asked.

"No…"

"A Kage level idiot with limitless chakra who acts like a five-year-old?" Kushina put her two cents in.

"Yes! Thanks, Kushina!" They both laughed.

"Hey, that's mean!" I pouted. "Hey, I've got to go, so I bid you goodbye, I'll see you in three days or so. Oh! Now that it's war, don't hold back your intelligence and strength. They'll teach you more if you know more."

I ruffled his hair and Hiraishined to our compound to pack. After that, I went back to the Hokage office to get the armor for my new occupation, and I was on my way to the gates.

Before I got there, though, I ducked into an alley to change. I pulled on black pants and a black shirt to go under the armor, and fit the gloves that somehow went up to my upper arm yet stayed up and didn't slip or move onto my arms. I strapped on the armor, pulled on my mask, and jumped across rooftops towards the gates.

* * *

><p>XxoxX (Minato)<p>

"Hey, I've got to go, so I bid you goodbye, I'll see you in three days or so. Oh! Now that it's war, don't hold back your intelligence and strength. They'll teach you more if you know more." And with that, he turned around and left.

He would only be gone for three days, so I guess it was okay.

I took out a sheet of blank paper, and started to sketch absentmindedly. _I wonder what mission he has… it can't be a dangerous one because it's only three days long, but with Dad… Well, he did tell me that he was called the Number-One-Hyperactive-Knucklehead-Ninja by his friends in Whirlpool… Is it an escort mission for a high ranking strategist? Border patrol? A criminal in an outskirt town of the Land of Fire? _

_I don't know, he's so hard to read! It's annoying._

We waited for about an hour, but nobody else came in. Then, out of the blue, Morino-sensei poofed into the center of the room. Upon seeing the smoke, on reflex I threw my pencil like a senbon. It hit him square on the forehead, but thankfully it was the eraser side, and not the freshly sharpened end. Kushina had a kunai at the ready and was behind a desk in case of an explosion, while Morino-sensei was still blinking, I joined her with my drawing being folded into an airplane to throw to distract whoever it was. This was all before I realized who it was we were attacking.

"Oh, hi, Morino-sensei! Don't scare us like that, we could have killed you!" I yelled at him, annoyed. I'd ruined my drawing for this.

He stared at me for a few seconds, a red mark forming on his forehead where the pencil hit him. He took in the overturned desk, the kunai knives in Kushina's hands, the shuriken in my left hand, and the paper airplane in my right ready to be thrown.

"Tell me…" he paused, and then continued, "Three things. One, how did you know that this was a test?"

"We didn't, it was reflex." Kushina answered. I nodded in agreement.

"Two, did you just hit me with a pencil?"

"Yeah, taking out a real senbon would have taken too much time; I threw what was in my hands at the time as a distraction."

"And three… why do you have an airplane in your hands?" He raised an eyebrow at the item that seemed very out of place considering the setting of a ninja academy. Paper shuriken? Yes. Airplanes? No.

In response, I threw it. His eyes followed it throughout its circulation of the room.

"Oh. That's why. To draw my eyes away from you. Smart, kid." He noted. I caught the paper as it flew past me.

"Exactly." I grinned. Dad always said that I was unpredictable, just like him.

"You guys _do_ know that I had this whole speech planned out about how if I was an enemy ninja, you would be dead, right? Because if you did, then I'm annoyed at you." he glared at us suspiciously.

"Morino-sensei, if we did do what you are accusing us of doing, we would have had delayed reactions towards your appearance inside this room, wouldn't we? We wouldn't have indeed nailed you with a pencil, knocked over a desk to use as cover, taken out several weapons during the time you were distracted by said pencil, made enough noise for help to notice and come investigate, and delayed you until help arrives. I dear say, that's them running down the hallway right now."

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why Kushina said that in an English Nobleman's accent.

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

"So you're telling me, that these two six-year-old kids, if it had been a real battle situation, would have killed you? Did I hear you right, Morino?" The principal of the academy asked Morino-sensei. I noticed that his eyebrow was twitching. "And you want to test them early, to get a feel for their skill level." Morino-sensei nodded, smiling. The effect was kind of unsettling, considering he had dozens of scars across his face.

"Yeah. To be honest, I wasn't expecting them, so my guard was down, and I wasn't expecting these two to be training to be ninjas ever since they were…" He trailed off, and then glanced at us.

"Four. And I'm seven, thank you." Kushina responded.

I was silent for a few seconds. "I just turned seven last week and… I started experimenting when I was three." They were silent.

"God damn, what about your childhoods?" The principal, who I know noted, had a name plate on his desk. Umino?

"_Language!"_ Morino-sensei whispered loudly.

"Training _was _my childhood. It was fun, I was more mature than other people my age, and they teased me about my hair and how I was an orphan. I saw ninjas training, and thought that I could do it." I said to them, being appropriately vague about my training.

Kushina didn't disclose any information about how she trained.

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

Morino-sensei slammed a two inch thick stack of papers on my desk. On the very first page, right in the middle, it said all ominously: _**TEST. **_In the corner, in a hand-written scrawl, was the time. Literally. _8:30 AM_

I look up at him for an explanation. He shrugged.

"Just answer as many as you can. This will tell me what you've learned so I'll know what to teach you. I can't help you with any of this. If you don't understand the directions, you can ask, but other than that- Nope." He spun on his heel, took out a book called _The Art of War, _by some guy named Sun Tzu.

I flipped open the huge packet, and saw heartbreakingly easy questions.

Let's just say that it went from 2+2 up.

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

Page 234, it asked me what I thought this quote meant.

_"When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists.  
>Next best is a leader who is loved.<br>Next, one who is feared.  
>The worst is one who is despised.<br>If you don't trust people, you make them untrustworthy.  
>The Master doesn't talk, he acts. When his work is done, the people say, 'Amazing, we did it, all by ourselves!'"<em>

― _Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching_

Easy.

'_As a ninja, I am expected to perform as well or better than my teachers, as well as help my comrades be confident in their abilities to perform. There is a delicate balance between the levels of leadership, possibly the lowest level is to be despised by your subordinates. If a superior is always yelling, making ones lower than him feel like the whole world is burdening their shoulders, and making them feel worthless under his gaze, he does not deserve to carry the title, leader. A higher level, if not by much, is a leader who is feared. Fear of anger, disappointment, being bullied or singled out, and being insulted for things that they did their best on by the leader can ruin someone's healthy state of mind. _

_A leader who is loved becomes more of a friend you never take seriously when he/she is serious, and the best is one who helps but doesn't take the credit. He/she projects the credit to the team or individual he/she helped.'_

Wow. That's a LONG answer.

The test then went into the leadership aspects of being a ninja. I figured I was in the mid-to-elite genin section.

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

Page 501, oh, now _this one_ was weird.

_Mark the time you started the test in one of the two boxes provided below, then write the current time in the other box. _

And in Morino-sensei's scrawl- _Draw something. Whatever you want. I don't care. It's part of the test._

I figured I would take my time with this, because it was only 11:30, after all.

So I drew Gamakichi, all of his markings, a dragon-shaped pipe hanging out of his mouth, my dad sitting on his head drinking sake and eating ramen, and a giant bottle of sake for the both of them. I realized I forgot Gamakichi's sake cup, so I added that too. I even shaded it. No background, though, I figured that there was enough detail on it without a background adding into it. But, my artistic side won out, and I drew complicated smoke patterns around them, as if Gamakichi had just been summoned.

Gamakichi had grown since I'd first seen him, instead of being house size; he was about the size of the Hokage tower. Give or take.

I was on the last page now.

_Wait… its blank. Oh, wait, here at the bottom, _See teacher for next portion of test.

…

…

…

Fuck.

I went back and added a couple REALLY complicated scrolls in a pile next to Gamakichi, and two more next to my dad. Intricate swirls and flames flew from the tip of my pencil, and I shaded everything perfectly. I looked at my masterpiece mournfully. I probably wouldn't see it again after today, and I had an unknown number of test packets coming my way. I signed my name at the bottom for the artist's signature, just my new last name in elegant and curved script, nice and neat.

_Namikaze._

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

Kushina had fallen asleep long ago, and Morino-sensei was getting out another packet.

I was getting a little frazzled. My nerves were nearly gone from too much fraying due to the test. I had to concentrate on the words more because my eyes were tired, and my vision was starting to get a little fuzzy around the edges.

About halfway through the second packet, right about at the elite-genin-mid-chunin section, I had to stop. I had a killer headache and I was really tired. I rubbed my temples, and continued.

I stared at the questions on page 495 of the second packet for a few more seconds, and then my head went _thump _on the desk. I fell asleep a few seconds later.

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

Ibichi (1) Morino heard a loud _THUMP_, and spun around from the chalkboard where he was doodling, to see Minato finally stop. His head was on the desk, more accurately on page 495 of the chunin packet.

Ah, so he was low to mid chunin… He looked at the clock, and saw that it was 4:30 already. _Damn, the kid's been at it for eight hours… Kushina stopped at the end of the first packet, and _she _drew a stick figure with no head._

He thought for a minute. _We'll do the physical test tomorrow at noon. The kid needs sleep, I'll take him home, and tell him to be here at 11'. _

And so, Ibichi took the seven-year-old chunin to the Namikaze compound after waking up Kushina to tell her the same thing.

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

I woke up in my bed, with a note taped to my forehead. I ripped it off, and it took me a second to focus so I could read it.

_**Minato,**_

_**Meet at the academy at 11:00 AM for the physical exam. **_

_**I took you home after you passed out, your dad will be pissed at me for letting you run yourself ragged on a test. Ha! I can see it now. My body will never be found.**_

_**Morino-sensei**_

I looked at the clock.

10:45.

I had fifteen minutes.

Oh shi-

I ran to take a shower, grab some pre-made rice balls that my dad left for me, and ran like the Shukaku was chasing me to the academy. I made it with one minute to spare due to the time I saved by jumping from roof to roof in stead of the crowded civilian markets. I'll have to change that

"TIME!" I yelled as I jumped through the window of the third floor.

"Wow, right on time. I'm impressed. Ninja should always come precisely on time, not early nor late, if your there early, you can get ambushed or be yelled at, or a myriad of other things may happen, not all of them good, and if they come late…" He grinned sadistically.

"I came five minutes early, do I still get points?" The Uzumaki asked.

"Yes, but not as many as him."

"Aww…" She slumped in her chair.

"Don't worry Kushina, my huge embarrassing moment is coming soon, you'll have a big laugh and I'll lose a lot of points. Either that, or you'll become so good that you'll make me look like a tadpole compared to Gamabunta, the Summoning Toad Boss."

She smiled, and I realized I said the right thing.

"I'm still going to beat your ass today, Mina. I've mastered the Uzumaki style of unpredictability!" She grinned, and I smiled back.

"Don't count me out! My dad is known as the Number-One-Hyperactive-Knucklehead-Ninja, and I intend to live up to his legacy!"

Morino-sensei laughed. "And now, the torture begins!" He started laughing maniacally, and Kushina and I gulped audibly before we resigned ourselves to our fate.

XxoxX

* * *

><p><strong>DONE!1<strong>

**Did you notice that all of the male clan heirs are named after their fathers? I did, hence –Ibichi.**

**I am tired as heck; it's almost midnight, so I'll update this.**

**Then**

**I**

**Am**

**Going**

**To**

**Sleep.**

**Done!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everybody... SORRY! I'm so sorry! I tried to commit suicide a while back, and my mom got to me before something 'bad' happened. She thought I was being cyber-bullied, so she took EVERYTHING AWAY. On top of that, my five year old laptop finally fried, and I LOST EVERYTHING. ALL OF MY BABIES! ALL OF THEM! Including this- but I only recently remembered that I could access this on Docx, where I had sent it to my beta to be... beta-ed. So-...****  
><strong>**I'm sorry. As to the reason I tried to commit suicide, we moved to Maine, Vacationland.**

**NO, THIS IS NOT GOOD! WE MOVED! FOR. THE. SIXTH. FUCKING. TIME. I just got so freaking tired of it...**

**But- enough of my moping, my inner demon/ muse/ split personality that has been MUCH more vocal since the month in the hospital/ moral support Dani is trying to threaten me by pressing a pistol to my head and saying, and I quote- "WRITE THE $#%&** STORY!"**

**So, without further a due- On with the... $#%&** story...**

* * *

><p><em>Last time~<em>

_"Don't count me out! My dad is known as the Number-One-Hyperactive-Knucklehead-Ninja, and I intend to live up to his legacy!"__  
><em>_Morino-sensei laughed. "And now, the torture begins!" He started laughing maniacally, and Kushina and I gulped audibly before we resigned ourselves to our fate._

* * *

><p>XxoxX<p>

Morino-sensei, still chuckling, said, "Head to the training field in the back of the academy, I'll be right behind you."

Kushina quickly interjected. "Err, how about you walk beside us? At the moment I don't trust you at all."

"Y-Yeah, who knows? You might try to pull a kunai on us." I added, hoping against hope that he wouldn't try to hurt us; he was really freaking me out. He wouldn't… right?

"DAMN! That was another test… how do you do that?"

"Because, at this very moment, we don't trust you."

"Good." Morino-sensei grinned.

XxoxX

We now cut to a scene where a Fox-Demon masked ANBU is running away from an exploding building in slow motion. Said ANBU is now leaping into a very conveniently placed ditch that the Fox had dug earlier with the help of clones.

A wall of fire quickly soars over the ditch and the ANBU walks out unharmed.

"Well," he says to no one in particular, "I think that that Iwa base counts as 'destroyed'. Off to the next one, then home." The ANBU then proceeds to whistle merrily as he leaves one of Iwa's main supply bases with several storage scrolls in tow.

Back to the academy, Minato Namikaze prepares to meet his doo-… I mean fate.

XxoxX

When we arrived at the field that Morino-sensei told us about, the man was full out cackling.

Kushina and I were on the edge of a nervous breakdown, (but hiding it very well), when he finally turned to us and his face went serious.

"We'll start with aim. For every target you miss, you have to do twenty push-ups." He said with a stone cold demeanor.

"How many targets?" Kushina asked.

"How many kunai and shuriken do you have on your person?" He asked her.

I blanched. He wants us to throw all of our kunai and shuriken, not miss one, and be miserable?

"Thirty all together, fifteen shuriken, fifteen kunai." She answered.

"All of them."

She sighed, and started throwing.

Kushina had missed three targets out of thirty, and while not perfect, she was a prodigy by normal standards. She still had to do sixty push-ups, though. I had only missed two, so I only had to do forty. It really wasn't that much, only five more than my warm up.

Oh sweet ramen, it burned.

XxoxX

The entire day was hell incarnate. He made us spar on balance beams, and every time we fell, we had to do as many sit-ups as we possibly could in the time it took for us to sing the Konoha national anthem.

_"Gentle sunlight shimmering through the green,_

_A tree grows but a single leaf at the start of its life._

_Many more grow in time, as the leaves protect the sapling underneath._

_Covering each other in their haste to grow strong._

_The leaves that die cover the ground,_

_Leaving the safety of the sapling to others,_

_For they know they have done their job well._

_The tree gains thousands of leaves in its life,_

_And shall live forever."_

Lots of sit-ups, as it were a very slow tune. Then, he had us hang by our knees upside down while we blocked kunai he threw at us. Blunted, he told us, but we didn't take any chances. This took the whole day, and then he made us run laps until it was time to leave the academy. An overly exhausting day so far, all I wanted to do was go home and meditate with dad… but he wasn't there, so I guess I'd have to do it with the frog statues. They were like, amazing imaginary friends, and I could entertain myself for hours just with the imaginary battles and conversations in my head. Weird, I know, but dad said that the most powerful shinobi aren't always strictly 'sane', per say.

I started walking towards the Hokage monument, because really, I had time to kill. After a while, I noticed that Kushina seemed to be following me. I had no idea why, though. She must live on the outskirts of Konoha… I thought to myself, and continued on. When I got to the park under the monument, though, I started to doubt she lived on the outskirts.

I finally spun around, and pointed angrily in her direction. "Why are you following me?!" I yelled at her.

She looked confused, but then her eye twitched. "I just so happen to live just past the Namikaze compound, so can I just go?" She asked, annoyed.

"You do? Oh, I didn't know. I didn't think anyone lived farther away from Konoha than I do." I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. _How could I say that?_

"Well, I do, so cool your jets Minato. Jeez."

XxoxX

We walked in silence for a while, when I heard a twig snap.

I spun around and flung a kunai by reflex, like my dad trained me to do. I saw a mouse scamper out of the bushes.  
>"Oh, it was just a mouse…"<p>

Kushina raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged in return, but then my instincts told me to throw another kunai. So, me being me, I did. A rabbit popped out, scared to death. But it wasn't just any rabbit.

It was a gray mountain hare, normally found in Kumo.

"GET DOWN!" I tackled Kushina, and several shuriken flew where she had just been standing, each of them burying themselves into the tree behind her.

Four Kumo ANBU rushed out of the shrubs on the side of the dirt path, and I quickly analyzed that no one would come to our aide this time, we were just too far away from the village. No one would hear us. That was probably their plan.

_What do they want? Dad doesn't have a name yet, so Kumo isn't after me, so they're after Kushina. Why? UZUMAKI! She's an Uzumaki! Sealing is in their blood! They must want her as a seal master and as a breeding horse for the clan! ...Ew... _I thought, frantically dodging and blocking kunai, jutsu, and shuriken.

Kushina joined me, covering my back. We had an unspoken agreement, a truce until these bastards were dead. I quickly formed seven hand signs, and cutting blades of wind shot from my hands and feet, pushing me into the air and slinging me towards the tallest ANBU. I engaged him in taijutsu, using what little my dad had taught me of the Hachidori no Bara. He was expecting academy-level moves, or at most the Yamanaka style, not an unknown style and a skilled user. I quickly took him out using the unpredictable moves that relied purely on instinct, and the wind blades still emanating from my hands and feet. I sliced off his head without a thought as to what on Earth that would mean.

"HIDEKI!" A woman's voice screeched. Oh dear... A woman's scorn... I have induced a woman's wrath. I'm so dead. I shot towards Kushina with a speed that blew my hair back and pulled my eyes into slits, although I didn't dare close my eyes to blink out the tears, however nonexistent they were. In the back of my mind, I knew that the adrenaline from the surprise of the ANBU would wear off soon, but I couldn't afford to dwell on that.

I blocked a sword from entering Kushina's lower ribs, and quickly cast the only fire jutsu I knew at the male who had thrust the sword. It was only a fireball, not even very big, but it was at point blank, and a great deal of damage was sustained. I couldn't use water, because it would bite me in the ass later because it could be used to conduct electricity, and odds are- they were water users. I would only add to the carnage of their jutsu. I didn't have an earth affinity because my primary element was wind. I quickly deduced that seals would help a lot in this situation, so I grabbed a pack of exploding tags and fast as lightning, threw three kunai with chakra strings attaching the tags at the three ANBU.

During this, Kushina was showing that she was no pushover. She had injured two of them, and the one I had burned was missing half of his mask now. We ran out of the blast zone, but couldn't quite make it, and we were both blown back. I hit a tree half a second before Kushina slammed into me. I screamed when three ribs broke, and another two were fractured. We slid down the trunk, and landed harshly at the bottom, dazed. I was exhausted; we had been exhausted when the ANBU had appeared, but now... I was honestly surprised that we weren't dead yet. Kushina was unconscious, and despite vehement protests at the notion, was very heavy.

Two ANBU, the woman and another male, walked out of the smoke towards us. I slowly pushed Kushina off me, and struggled to move her behind me as I tried to take a breath. Oh my gosh, it burned... it hurt so much... but I couldn't give up. I can't give up. I took a defensive crouch in front of Kushina, and took note of how many kunai and shuriken I had left, whether or not I had I had shinobi wire, where everything was, and how close the two Kumo shinobi were coming.

I only had three kunai, six shuriken, a single roll of wire, and thirteen exploding tags. They had stopped at thirteen paces, or twenty six feet, give or take, and there was a damaged branch right above where they were standing, and they were near a particularly crumbly part of the sheer cliff face of the Hokage Mountain. Okay, I could work with this...

"Boy... You are quite the spitfire, aren't you...? We're a little mad at you, you now... killing two of our comrades like that... How about this? If you hand over the Uzumaki, we'll make your death quicker than you deserve. If not, then a slow and torturous death for you. Either way, we'll get the girl. What do you say, eh?" The male said. He had an arrogant tone to his voice that I didn't particularly like.

The woman hissed at me, beyond words in her rage. The sound wasn't human, wasn't animal, and wasn't any fish that I had ever heard of. It was demonic, the uncharted amount of rage and utter fury in her eyes making a shiver of unconditioned terror run down my spine.

"I won't give up." I said in a small voice. Then stronger, "I can't give up. I won't give up! She is my comrade, and may my soul be damned if I don't protect those who are precious to me!" I rose from my crouch slowly, making no sudden movements to trigger them. "She is my friend, my teammate, my comrade, and you have no right... you have _no right_... NO RIGHT TO _TAKE HER FROM US!"_ I screamed the last bit as a battle cry as I threw two kunai with delayed exploding tags at the wall, and one at the branch. They would explode in thirty seconds. I had until then to keep them in position, and hopefully, the two would die.

I then threw all six of my shuriken at them, although what they didn't see, or notice until I had already pulled them back, was that I had threaded wire through the shuriken, and charged at them with a whip of sharp and pointy fury in my hands as a weapon. _Twenty-seven seconds..._

I swung the looped wire, the six shuriken forming a kind of mace at the end. Each shuriken weighed about a half pound since it was steel, so I was praying that three pounds of steel could deal damage._ Twenty-five seconds..._

The woman chucked three kunai at me, so I did what any shinobi starved for weapons would do, and caught one, then deflected the other two. I quickly added the kunai, which was about a pound, to the Whip of Death, as I had oh so adequately named it. A pound wasn't enough, and although when the spiky end of the wire whip hit a shoulder or wrapped around a neck, I could see blood, unless I added copious amounts of chakra to the swing, it wouldn't break very many bones, let alone kill. I added chakra to the wire so that it would cut, and swung it at the woman. She tried to deflect it with a kunai, but the chakra enforced wire cut through it. She jumped away before I could injure her though. _Nineteen seconds..._

The man formed two clones, and charged at me. The woman saw what he was doing, and also formed two clones that started running towards me. They were planning something terrible, I just knew it. The male shot water jutsu, thoroughly soaking me and the ground. I tried to dodge, but my ribs seemed to catch fire, and a raging inferno of pain enveloped me. I couldn't move when I saw the huge wall of water rushing towards me. I braced myself the best I could, but I was lifted off my feet and blown back. The woman then did something I would never forget. Or ever think back on without flinching in pain. She used a lightning jutsu to conduct a deadly level of amps to my body. Luckily for me, Lady Luck smiled upon me that day. The level of amps had decreased greatly by the time the electricity had reached me.

_Oh gods it hurt, it hurt a lot... Oh gods when will this pain end?! NO! I can't think that! I have to endure it... for... Kushina..._ My body convulsed and shook like I was having a seizure. Lightning pulsed through every inch of my body, making the nerves spasm erratically, and my pain all that much greater. It finally stopped a few seconds later. The rushed over to me, to make sure I was dead, I think. When the woman saw me breathing, she screamed at me. For or about what, I would never know, because all I felt was pain in that moment. I felt a kunai bury itself in my abdomen, and I coughed up blood. My eyesight got blurry, and I started to see black spots in the corners of my vision. A breath escaped my lips, and I manually stopped breathing to make them think I was dead. _One second..._

_"Boom."_ I whispered as they turned towards Kushina.

A small avalanche of rock and the entire tree fell, but they dodged everything. All of that hard work... _for nothing! _The noise woke Kushina up, but she was too dazed to be able to do anything as the male tossed her over his shoulder.

She looked at me, panic in her eyes. I stared back, pain and overwhelming guilt in my gaze. I slowly reached out to her, my fingers outstretched; it looked as if I was offering my hand for her to take.

I could see her making connections as she as being carried away. She took in the lakes of water, the scorch marks from the lightning, the rocks, the fallen tree, the weapons strewn around the road, and the kunai lodged in my gut. Her eyes showed panic now; she was being taken against her will.

The black spots started getting bigger, blocking everything out except her face.

"Ku...shi...na..." I gasped in a broken whisper, "...no..."

My vision went black, and I slipped into the unknown.

XxoxX

* * *

><p><strong>Gomenasai, everyone. He's still alive, though.<strong>

**As to two seven year olds taking on ANBU from Kumo, the four idiots severely underestimated Kushi-Chan and Mina-Chan, and about Mina-Chan beating the first one and killing him, the ANBU was expecting something completely different. Plus- the Hachidori no Bara is unpredictable, so he couldn't prepare for anything so *SLICE* He dead.**

**Make sense? Hope so.**

**And sorry about the three month wait, there were... extenuating circumstances.**

**IF THERE ARE ANY MISTAKES: I'm sorry. The format was completely screwed up because I typed this on Pages, but FFn won't accept Pages, so I had to mail it to myself and copy and paste into a Word Document, and lo and behold- all bold, italic, and spacing were gone. GONE! So if there are any mistakes, forgive me.**

_**MK OUT!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**imsabbel: Well fuck you too. If you don't like the fucking story you're reading- _DON'T FUCKING READ IT, BASTARD!_  
><strong>

**ANarritiveCloud: Thank you for the advise, if YOU would like to fill the empty slot for beta, let me know, I'll send you some chapters to touch up on. Thanks again, it really helped._  
><em>**

* * *

><p><em>Last time~<em>

_The black spots started getting bigger, blocking everything out except her face._

_"Ku...shi...na..." I gasped in a broken whisper, "...no..."_

_My vision went black, and I slipped into the unknown._

* * *

><p>I woke up with a start, lurching out of the white hospital bed with a vengeance. A nurse that had just so happened to be checking on me screamed at the sudden movement.<p>

"Kushina! Where's Kushina? Tell me!" I yelled at her. This was incredibly important! "Kumo has taken the last Uzumaki! We need to tell the Hokage!"

"C-Calm down, Namikaze-san! We don't know where she is, but she wasn't taken by Kumo! She's probably just at home eating dinner right now. She's fine!" She tried to console me.

"And I'm telling you! She was taken by four Kumo ANBU! How hard is that to understand?! She could be dead! My best friend could be dead- and nobody is doing anything about it! The Uzumaki princess is GONE, TAKEN, and you don't_ believe me_?" I yelled at her. She was pretty, I guess, a little dim. What's her name plate say? Haruno? Gosh, she was a ditz.

"Namikaze-san! You need to calm down, or you'll aggravate your wounds!" She finally stood up to me.

"Don't tell me to calm down! They're going to use her as a breeding horse! They're going to- to-" I cut off with a sob. _I wasn't strong enough to protect her. I let them take her... I wasn't good enough... I wasn't strong enough..._

* * *

><p><em>An hour later...<em>

I had escaped from that vile place that was called a hospital. I understood why they were needed, and that I probably should have stayed, but damn it! Kushina was in serious trouble! I was going as quickly as I could to our compound, which wasn't much more than a quick walk. As I stumbled through the village, I got the normal looks, although there were more of them seeing as I didn't have a shirt, wasn't wearing shoes, and had a plethora of bandages around my abdomen. I had no idea why people stared at me, I truly didn't. But at the moment, I didn't care much, because Kushina was in trouble. My best friend was in trouble.

As I passed the park, a bunch of academy kids in other classes ran up to me and crowded around me. Questions and insults were shot at me like kunai on a conveyer belt. What was I doing, why didn't I have a shirt, was I hurt, how did I get hurt, and so on. I did my best to push past them, jaw clenched in pain and determination, but they wouldn't be moved.

I snapped. "KUSHINA WAS KIDNAPPED BY KUMO! IF YOU DON'T MOVE OUT OF MY WAY- _I WILL MAIM YOU!_"

"Ugh, that tomato tramp? Why are you so worried about her? She's so ugly!" A fangirl jeered from around my neck. She had latched on like a leech when they had first started crowding. I pushed her off angrily.

"Her? She's not important enough to be taken by Kumo. Stop making stuff up." A civilian boy said, scoffing.

"And what do you know? Stupid civilian! Go back to your parents like the weak _sniveling scumball_ you are. You don't deserve to be a ninja, if you don't even know who Kushina Uzumaki is." They were shocked silent. I had never really cursed in front of them before. Or insult anybody, for that matter. "The clan of Uzumaki was a major part of Uzushiogakure no Sato. They had a royal family- the Uzumaki. She's the last one. She's the lost Uzumaki Princess. So _damn_ if you think that she's not important! Now get out of my way!" I pushed past them all, and continued my long ordeal to my home.

It took an hour, but I finally made it. I was pushing open the black gates, when I noticed the blood on my hands. I looked down, panicked. My wound had opened, and had bled through the bandages. I clamped my right hand over it to stop the bleeding, it wasn't a lot, but enough to worry. I stumbled through the clearing, using the many trees for support. One of the frog statues seemed to watch me go by, I nodded to it, and continued. I couldn't stop, otherwise I might not be able to go again.

I didn't notice at the time, but small drops of blood had started to drip through cracks in my fingers, just small drops, not very noticeable, but they hit the ground every other footstep or so.

* * *

><p><em>Naruto<em>

I stiffened in midair. There was a disturbance in the frogiverse... something was amiss... My eyes narrowed and I doubled my speed to Konoha. _Minato... he needs my help... Damn! I'm still over a day away! He needs me... my son needs me!_

I cancelled the henge I had placed over myself, revealing the orange coat with black flames emblazoned across the bottom. I had m ANBU gear in my pack, but I still had my mask on because I thought it was cool. I was wearing black Jonin pants, a black muscle shirt with a grayish black sweatshirt over it, but under the orange coat. So in short- my normal attire only my pants and sweatshirt were black.

I sent waves of invisible chakra outwards from my body, searching for trouble or anything out of place. Nothing came up on my radar, but that didn't really do anything to calm my paranoia.

_How do I even know that my son... or father... No! He's my son! He's my son and I love him! How do I know that Minato is really in danger? I haven't really had the best results when I trust my gut..._ I thought, mentally grimacing, remembering the time when I tried to prove to Kiba that my sense of direction was better than his... Poor Hinata... _I'm on my way home anyways, it can't hurt to hurry and check. I'll even get home early, so we can go eat ramen. Iruka-sensei always said that when it comes to family, trust your gut and your instinct, you never know when you'll be right. _

_Last time, I was right, but this time, the feeling is even stronger. I've never been wrong when it comes to family, but now... Oh god, I pray that I'm wrong. _

* * *

><p><em>Kushina<br>_

The two Kumo ANBU had used braided ninja wire to bind my arms and legs together so that I couldn't struggle. At first, all they did was bind my wrists with normal rope, but after three escape attempts, four hidden kunai, and numerous bruises on their part, I was picked up and tossed over the male ANBU's shoulder. My head was aching, but I could see the trail behind us easily.

_What do I do?! I don't want to go to Kumo! I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna! Please don't make me go! _Tears were slipping down my face, because no matter how much I had trained for dangerous stuff on missions- I was only seven years old. No matter how strong I was, the limitations of a seven-year-old body plagued me. I was getting tired, all that I wanted to do was close my eyes and fall asleep and never wake up, I couldn't do that. Not 'till I was safe.

_How can I fix this? What can I do? I can't attack them, they'll just hit me again, I can't run, they've bound my legs... Leave a trail? But with what? _My hair got in my eyes again, and I tossed my head lightly to get it out of my face. _Damn it! I don't know! Okay, it has to be something that they won't notice, but will catch someone's eye... no leaves, my fingers aren't long enough to reach out and pick them. No weapons, they took it all away. No ninja wire, no wa to untie myself without them noticing...  
><em>

My hair flopped back into my eyes again, and I didn't bother to fix it this time. _Minato... Oh Minato, I'm so sorry... Please forgive me..._

* * *

><p><strong>So, because my readers are incredibly picky, and hated the previous version of this, you get a short interlude of Kushina, and NOT a Naruto flashback. <strong>

**If you actually did like the previous version of the chapter, sorry, but I'm tired of getting flames. **

**Again- FLAMERS! (You know who you are) t(0_0)t**


	10. Chapter 10

WARNING: NOT AN UPDATE!

If you did not like chapter nine, I've made another version that might appeal to more people.

IT'S SHORT AS FUCK, BUT IT'S BETTER!

You're welcome.


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